


Love of Madness

by KeithBReal



Series: The Madness Cycle [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:14:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 197,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1987662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeithBReal/pseuds/KeithBReal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years after the horror at the south pole, Azula is going mad in an asylum while Sokka's star is rising in the Fire Nation, that is until a calamity brings a frayed Team Avatar back together for an adventure they are ill-prepared for. A sequel to Airship Down and the Mountains of Madness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was also posted to FF.Net, where Lord Annaymoss beta read it. The character tags are not comprehensive.

"So," Zuko said, setting down a mug of steaming tea as a servant poured Sokka a cup of the same. Zuko waited for the server to leave muted room before speaking further. "I never did get the lowdown on what happened to you and my sister in the South Pole."

Sokka was in the Fire Lord's private chamber by appointment. The snowflakes that had landed on his head and shoulders during his walk were now tiny beads of water. In his short time as ambassador to the Fire Nation, he had learned Zuko was not prone to idle social visits and so he wondered what made him so curious about that old incident now, given everything else that was happening with the Fire Nation's colonies in the Earth Kingdom.

"Well, we heard about the airship being tested over the pole, so I decided I was going to blow it up, kinda pay you guys back for what happened to Aang in Ba Sing Se, only I told everybody I was just going to scout..."

Zuko waived his hand impatiently. "I know all that, I'm just wondering how you two survived with hardly any food and in the freezing cold. Azula's leg got banged up pretty bad, too."

"Yeah, it was broke pretty good," Sokka said, wondering what Azula had told her brother about the ordeal. "We stayed in the crashed ship for a few days, tended her wound, then loaded up on supplies. We got worried there might be a Deep Cold, that's when it gets so cold no amount of furs will save you, so we decided to make for some nearby mountains rather than try and wait for rescue."

"Because you thought it was warmer near the mountains," said Zuko, smiling.

"Yeah," said Sokka, remembering how Azula had dreamed about the mountain and was convinced there was fire of some kind under it. There had been heat, but no fire. Something else had been calling to her it turned out.

"So it was warm in the caves under the mountain," Sokka continued. "We lived off mushrooms for a while and followed the cave tunnels to the other side where I built a balloon, and the rest is history."

"Where did you find the stuff to build the balloon?" asked Zuko.

-Monkey feathers...- Sokka thought, adopting an Aang-ism. -What did Azula tell him?-

He would just have to hope it was not too much. Sokka had assumed Azula thought the same as he did on the matter, that what lived under the mountains of the South Pole was best left forgotten and ignored. Giving the journal he had found on the body of the dead explorer to scholars in the Northern Water Tribe had been a risk, but he thought he had done it in such a way that would not arouse any interest in the little book. He could have burned the thing, but that seemed foolish, and keeping the loathsome object with him was equally unbearable, so he sent it back to the homeland of its owner and prayed it would be forgotten.

"I used scrap from the airship. Built a sled for it, and somehow hauled it through the caves. I was afraid of building the balloon on the one side because I thought the wind would slam us into the mountain," he said. The lie was easy to keep straight, as it had been his original plan before finding the remains of the ancient expedition.

"Azula wasn't the same after she came back," Zuko said. "Most people think she snapped when she was about to become Fire Lord, and even people close to her think it was when she lost Mai and Ty Lee's support at the Boiling Rock where she tried to kill us, remember? But I noticed something was off with her when she first came back from the South Pole."

Sokka was nodding, furrowing his brow in what he hoped looked like interest and concern. "What was different about her?" he asked.

"The same thing I suspect was different about you," Zuko said, making gooseflesh on Sokka's neck. "Granted, I didn't know you so well at the time to notice, but I see it now. You have a tendency to stare off into space when you're not talking, like you're not here. Old soldiers who've seen a lot of action get it, I'm told. It's called a Thousand Yard Stare. Azula was always sharp, like a cat about to pounce even when she was bored or lost in thought, but this new look she'd get was different. What happened to you guys down there?"

Sokka took a few moments to collect himself, trying to think of when he had been staring at nothing like Zuko described. He wanted to groan. He had been a fool to think he had escaped that place under the mountain clean, as though his simple outlook on life had offered any real protection. He remembered being glib at the time, putting the horrible revelations of Hoplo's journal and all they had seen into context for Azula, whose mind had come closer to the horror than his and cracked.

"It was...really hard," Sokka finally said. "Everyone else on the airship died. It was so cold...we had to look hard for the food, and the mountain was farther away than it looked. We didn't think anyone who came to rescue us would even be able to find us...we really thought we were going to die. I mean, we were sure of it at one point, but we kept going through the motions because there was nothing else to do. Even when things were looking up, it was all long shots, you know?"

All of this was true, and even with the weirdness left out of his tale the ordeal had been a horror. He gripped his mug of tea to steady his hands and for the first time realized he had never truly talked to anyone about that time of cold and dark. Everyone seemed to think it was just another harrowing adventure, something Sokka was used to by then, and they assumed the worst part had been all that time alone with Azula.

They could never know how her face, being the only other human face within a thousand miles, had been like the rising sun. They could never understand how her voice, being the only voice, aside from his own to be heard for days upon days, had been a buffer against howling madness. No one would ever comprehend the life-giving force that had been her fist pounding on his back, urging him to crawl forward when his body had quit on him and left him to freeze and die in a snowy wasteland.

He could never explain this to anyone, least of all to people Azula had subsequently tried to kill. As for the rest of it, they were better off not knowing, and by now it was too late to tell them. He would be called a liar and a crazy person by those who did not know him, and a betrayer by those who did.

"I guess anybody would come back from that changed," said Zuko. "I always thought she was kind of untouchable; I've been trying to get to the bottom of what's wrong with her."

"How is she by the way?" Sokka asked. He had heard rumors of all sorts, the kind people told about tyrants no longer in power.

"This stays between you and me," Zuko said, leaning over his tea. "Aside from the weird staring, she would wake up in the middle of the night screaming about things that live under the ground. The healers had to give her sleeping potions. They still do. During the day she's normal, sort of, but sometimes she says weird things or talks like our mother is in the room. I'm kind of ashamed of this, but they have to keep her in a special jacket where the sleeves tie behind her back."

Zuko was the one to look away now and Sokka, thoroughly depressed, sought to end the conversation. "Maybe...I don't know, Zuko, I wish I had some advice."

"No, it's fine. I won't say she deserves what's happened to her, but a lot of it has been from choices she made. Say, listen, the real reason I had you come here was to ask a favor."

Sokka's eyebrow went up. Zuko was not a demanding man, but neither was he the sort to ask favors of just anybody. "Uh, sure. What is it?"

"I'll understand if you don't want to do it, but like I was saying Azula's in rough shape. Mentally, I mean. Physically she's stronger than ever, and dangerous."

Zuko was not looking at him, and Sokka was already familiar with Fire Lord Zuko's new royal habit of looking at people as though trying to beam a hole in their head with his gaze. "Okay, shoot," Sokka said.

"I was thinking maybe you could go see her? Just, I don't know, say hi or something. She has no friends, is convinced everyone around her is out to get her, and she's getting worse. I asked Mai to go but she refused and told me Ty Lee would be the same way. I don't think Azula wants to see them, anyway."

-And she'll want to see me?- he almost asked, but instead nodded and looked concerned. His chest had become tight and he felt like he had been sighted by a saber-toothed moose lion. His hands would not stop shaking, so he set his mug down. "I guess," he said, feeling his cheek and neck burn.

"Thanks, Sokka. I won't forget this."

-888-

The asylum was a stone fortress not far from the sea. It was heavily guarded both from without and within and Sokka felt oddly relieved to see some people walking about the grounds and halls wearing robes and tunics rather than armor. These people were healers, according to a tall, thin woman who insisted on being called Chief Healer Bin. She was head of the asylum and received Sokka with disdainful interest, making constant references to "tribals" and tribal behaviors she found fascinating.

"I've only met one waterbender in my time here," Bin said, leading Sokka down a long hallway lined with tapestries. It was dryer and smelled much nicer than the other parts of the facility. "She was an old woman. Quite mad, actually. She'd learned to bend blood if you can believe it."

Sokka decided he had enough problems without wondering what had become of the bloodbender and so he did not ask. He also did not wish to hear Bin speak if he did not have to. "Aside from Fire Lord Zuko, Princess Azula gets no visitors," said Bin. "I've been led to believe you played a key role in some traumatic event the princess experienced, yes?"

"Yep, that's me," Sokka said.

"I must say I was against you seeing her as you're far more apt to trigger an episode rather than sooth her fevered mind, but it is the Fire Lord's will."

"Yeah, that's great," Sokka said. "Zuko, er, the Fire Lord mentioned she sometimes screams about things that live under the ground? What's that about?"

"Well, from what we've pieced together, after the airship incident she spent some time in a cave system beneath the ground...with you. Take the trauma of that entire incident and throw in a strange, er, person, who likely has different mannerism and customs than what she's used to, and you get rants about 'the crawling chaos' and the 'movers underground.'"

"Ah. My fault, then. Gotchya," said Sokka, thinking he would not mind taking this woman on a tour of the place he and Azula had been.

They came to Azula's cell, which was dark save for some light near the ceiling, reflected in through mirrors. The walls were stone, and the bed she had was piled high with flame-resistant leathers rather than cotton or straw. Azula herself was the last thing he noticed, for she seemed quite small sitting cross-legged on the floor in a white coat fitted with straps and with long sleeves that tied around her back. "Princess, you have a visitor," said Bin.

"Zuzu, back so soon?" Azula said, her voice sharp and cruel.

"Hi, Azula," said Sokka.

There was a long moment of silence, then Azula turned just enough to fix one amber eye on Sokka, as though she were afraid of what she might see. Her eye flickered between him and Bin, and he could see she was trembling. "Can, uh, you give us a minute?" asked Sokka. "Fire Lord's orders," he added after she scowled.

"Be sure to scream if she breathes fire onto you," said Bin, curtly. "I'll be nearby."

"You," she said when Bin was gone. "Have you come to silence me?"

"No," Sokka said. "Zuko said you were having a rough time and he thought seeing me might help. If he was wrong, say so and I'll go."

She stood and let her hair fall away from her sunken eyes like curtains. Her bare feet made soft padding sounds on the stone while the manacles she wore rattled and clinked. Her hair, once beetle black and shining, was bedraggled and hung in front of her face. She came to the bars and he paid special attention to her shallow breathing, for any deep intake of breath would herald a fire attack.

"Are you real?" she asked.

He tapped the bars with his hand above her head, stopping short of touching her. "Yeah. I didn't tell anyone about what happened under the mountain. I should have, I'm sorry. I'll tell Zuko when I leave and something can get done about all this. I mean, you're nuts, but not nuts like they think you are..." his voice trailed off as her face twisted into a scowl.

"Keep your mouth shut," she hissed. "The worst thing that can happen is if people found out about Them."

"What do you mean?"

"Fool, haven't you been dreaming?"

"No. I mean, yeah, but not about any of that stuff. Not lately."

"Of course, your mind is denser, mine is more advanced, closer to their level. That's why they've singled me out above all others for destruction."

"You're thousands of miles away from them," he said. "Anything you've got bothering you is just thoughts you carried over. They can't hurt you or anybody else."

She cackled and staggered back from him, making his body tense and prepare to dodge a jet of flames but none came. "You fool! You complete, utter fool!" she nearly shrieked. "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming! Do you know what that means!?"

He shook his head, and repeated the words she had spoken, knowing her encounter with one of the monsters at the South Pole had left her knowing things she should not. She staggered back to the bars, hunched over like a cripple. Despite the sallow, sunken face she sported not all of her beauty had departed her and it stirred pity in his heart.

"Neither do I," she said, her face collapsing and eyes growing watery. "I hear it when I sleep. I thought it was coming up from the ground, but it's not, it's coming up from the sea, over the waves. I can hear it at night. Tell me you can hear it, too, Sokka, tell me it's not just me."

She sunk to her knees, and Sokka regretted coming here. He knelt, too, wary of her. "You said it's better no one knows. Why?" he asked.

"Because people would go looking," she said. "I know how people are, I know. People would go looking and things would be stirred up, more than they've been stirred already, by us. Those dabbling dead fools we found, those were the beginning, but none made it back alive and so they did not get curious. Now they're curious, Sokka, and as much as I'd like to see the world pay for what's it's done to me...I just want Them to forget about me and leave me alone."

She had called him by his name more times than ever before, he noted. "Okay, I'll keep quiet," he said. "But I can't leave you like this."

Azula picked her head up slowly to look up at him. She laughed, then got to her feet. "It doesn't matter," she said. "Like I told you, dead Cthulhu waits and he'll either stop calling to me or he'll rise up from the sea and call to everyone! One way or another, my suffering ends. It was good to see you again, Water Tribe boy, now away with you before I set you ablaze."

He cocked his head to the side and stood his ground, not wanting to leave without further explanation, given that he knew what she was saying was not entirely madness. The words did not come, however, and he left her with her back turned to him in her gloomy cell.

"Well, were you able to cure her?" asked Bin who had been standing in the hall outside. She was looking down her nose at him with a sour smirk on her lips.

"I don't think she likes being so close to the sea," Sokka said, doubting anything he said was registering. He walked ahead of Bin, who he could feel smirking at his back, and showed himself out.

To be continued...


	2. Great Wave

Sokka was being watched intently by a pair of dark amber eyes set into a pretty face. He took a bite of his scrambled turtle duck eggs and made a show of savoring the taste, for the amber eyes that watched him would be eager to see how much he enjoyed his breakfast.

She was young and as was the fashion amongst young Fire Nation noblewomen wore makeup that brightened her red lips and darkened the area around her eyes, highlighting their deep amber color. Her face had the promise of a terrible beauty if ever angered, but the girl was rarely upset in that way. It was a strange thing to look upon for Sokka, for he knew a face eerily like it that had often been angry, or worse, and that had both stopped his blood and made his chest tight.

"Is everything alright?" the girl asked, sensing his discomfort. Like the girl she bore a strong resemblance to she had a knack for reading people.

"Delicious as usual," Sokka said, swallowing his eggs. "I was just wondering what I was going to do today."

Suzi's face brightened, banishing completely her uncanny resemblance to Princess Azula. "Will you be going to the capital?" she asked.

"Ugh. Not if I can help it. I see entirely too much of that place as it is," Sokka said.

He would not mind sitting around the villa all day, actually. It was owned by Suzi's mother, a Fire Nation noblewoman, who had taken him in as a tenant and charged him a lower rate than that of the hotels and resorts that made of much of the Harbor City. Sokka suspected her real payment was the gossip value of having the Avatar's spokesman and ambassador from Southern Water Tribe living in her home.

"What will you do with yourself all day, then?" Suzi asked. "You've been working so hard all the time, a young man like you should get out and enjoy himself for a change."

"I think I'll head on down to the market, actually. I haven't been shopping in a while."

Suzi leaned forward, her face beaming in anticipation of being asked along. Sokka kept his face blank, noting how she was different from Azula. Her ears were a tad larger, he supposed. Her chin had the barest hint of a dimple. She was a few years younger, and preferred to wear her hair bun farther back, bear the base of her skull. She shunned bangs.

He did not remember inviting her along, yet beside him she was as they went to the fish market. The sky was cloudless and blue, speckled only by airships and pleasure balloons. Sokka smiled wryly upon seeing them, never sure if he deserved credit or blame for them being up there, remembering a time not long ago when flying machines had inspired only terror and brought only death.

The main market was on the upper part of the island. Normally crowded, today it seemed people had other places to be. Most seemed content to look and not buy, which put the vendors in a mood Sokka liked. While the size of the crowd was unusual, their reaction to him was not. Sokka had grown used to the looks he got from the people of the Fire Nation. He was dressed in a blue tunic and proudly wore his hair in the style of a Water Tribe warrior making him an odd sight to behold for the formerly isolated population. The fish market Sokka wished to visit was down a sandy hill by the sea and he and Suzi could smell it long before they reached it.

Sokka tensed each time Suzi's arm brushed against his. Once they were in the fish market, the throngs of bodies and rows of stalls made physical contact with her impossible to avoid. While looking at a particularly juicy fish as its vendor talked prices with another customer, Sokka glanced at Suzi and saw her smile. He hoped the one he returned did not look too much like a wince. He would have to let her down sometime, but it was too nice a day for that.

It had not been a good year for love. The only couple Sokka knew of that had not suffered a split was Aang and Katara, and while he approved of the pair he found them cringe-worthy when they publicly displayed their affection. He hated their pet name for each other, "Sweetie." He scowled thinking about it.

The splitting up of Fire Lord Zuko and Mai was still being talked about in all the Fire Nation social circles, both high and low. All seemed to agree it had been her idea to end it, but no one knew why. Rumors swirled and Sokka had no greater grip on the truth than anyone else.

As for him and Suki, it was too baffling for him to think clearly about. It was a like a broken step his mind had learned to skip as it went up and down.

"Sokka, that fire flake vendor I was telling you about is down by the beach," said Suzi, rejoining him. He had not noticed her get separated in the throng and it seemed he had taken little note of having bought a juicy-looking fish he had been eying.

"The one that's supposedly so spicy no one can finish an entire bag?" Sokka asked as he was being led through the crowd.

"Yeah! You said you thought you could do it. I think you win free fire flakes for a month if you can."

Sokka did not feel he was up for such a challenge at the moment, but he did want to see just how hot these flakes were. Before long he was at the beach with Suzi at the fire flake vendor, who had set up his cart on the sand just above the high tide line. The beach was packed as the day was hot. Volleyball games, sand castles, and umbrellas dotted the yellow bar of sand between swimmers in red or white bathing suits.

The fire flake vendor was a large, sweaty man with swollen lips and dark stubble for a beard. His black hair was greasy and he was clearly leering at the girls in their bathing outfits, but his eyes, while watery, were kind and his expression friendly.

"Are you the guy with super hot fire flakes?" asked Sokka.

The vendor's thick lips parted into a grin showing his surprisingly white teeth. "Are you up for Fuki's Flaming Fire Flake Challenge?" he asked.

"Uh...actually I just wanted to see how hot they were," Sokka said.

Fuki laughed and his wide belly shook. "Ah, don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend, I understand."

"She's not my girlfriend," Sokka said, more quickly than intended.

"I meant the fish, son," Fuki said, laughing. Suzi was bubbling with laughter too, making herself even less like Azula. "Sure, you can sample a scoop, but only if you buy the lady a bag of the regular sort. She likes fire flakes, right?"

Suzi did indeed like fire flakes, and once a bag was secured, Sokka was given a napkin with a small pile of the super spicy flakes, which he ate promptly.

Too promptly.

Sokka handed the fish to Suzi as Fuki's laughter boiled out of him. Tears streamed from Sokka's eyes; it was as though the flakes had crawled into the back of his nose through his throat and melted hid soft tissue. He was coughing and about to vomit on the sand when he was tapped on the back and presented with a clay mug of water. After three mugs he saw Suzi was the one giving them to him at Fuki's behest and amusement.

"They're spicy, alright," said Sokka when he was able to speak again. The smell of the sea and fish market was less potent to him now.

"I'd offer you the full challenge, but I think I'd be arrested for poisoning," said Fuki following his words with more loud laughter.

Sokka thought Fuki should be at least fined, but he laughed along with the man and decided he liked him.

"Come on, Sokka, let's take a quick walk down the beach to clear your head," said Suzi, taking him by the arm.

-A walk on the beach to clear my head, you're a sly one, Suzi,- Sokka thought as they went along above the wet sand, weaving between swimmers going to and from the waves. There were ball games being played, sand fortresses being built, and groups of children racing the waves. Woven in with the hundreds of voices and lapping of the sea was a strange, beautiful melody being played by a tall man with a graying beard who held a black violin. He caught Sokka's attention, for he seemed out of place amid the throngs of beach revelers, but few people paid him any mind. He held Sokka in a trance until the sound of his music faded as they passed him by.

The walk was not as brief as she had advertised and Sokka began to worry for his fish as they neared the end of the beach where a line of bungalows had been built. Sokka took the lead towards a road that would take them back to the fish market, but something caught his attention and they stopped.

The tide had gone out.

-Way out,- Sokka thought, looking back to see others on the beach had also noticed the receded water.

For perhaps half a mile all there could be seen was a flat expanse of mud, coral, and rock. The ground sloped downward gently before ending in rolling foam. The mud was alive with living things, but his fascination with the phenomenon was distracted by the murmurs rolling among the beach goers. "That's weird. Does the beach do this a lot?" he asked, turning to Suzi whose face had gone white.

A high pitched whine began rising in her throat but was soon drowned out by someone shouting "Tsunami!"

The air filled with a chorus of human cries and screams. All down the beach, bells that had been hung from high, white scaffolds were being rung as hard as they could be rung, prompting all the bodies on the beach to surge away from the water, which Sokka could now see was advancing again.

Suzi grabbed his arm and ran. He was faster, but he kept his pace with hers and looked over his shoulder to see the people's panic was well-founded. Coming towards them, covering ground faster than anyone could run was a growing wall of muddy water.

The bells were still ringing and Sokka felt a pang for the doomed men and women inside the towers. Once he thought they had been built to spot drowning swimmers, but later learned they were to soothe the Fire Nation's pathological fear that the earthbenders of the Earth Kingdom, whom they had fought for so long, could cause earthquakes beneath the sea and summon huge, killing waves to batter the coastlines of the Fire Nation archipelago. The towers were a relic, the people in them likely younger than him.

The crowd reached the fish market when the wave caught them. It carried with it tons upon tons of sand, silt, and rock. It swept away the fish stalls and bungalows like an angry Pai Sho player clearing a game board. There were a few firebenders who sent feeble flames into the wave, but they were as impotent to stop it as he was. He grabbed hold of Suzi, making her cry out, and the wave hit them.

Sokka knew a thing or two about drowning. Growing up in the Southern Water Tribe, a young warrior could expect to be nearly killed by water at least three times. The first was before he held the proper respect for the sea, and was forced to understand it. The second was when he foolishly thought he had learned true respect, and again tempted the waves. The third came years later, as if the water were reminding the warrior of his temporary place in the world.

Such a belief was nonsense, Sokka knew. Plenty of warriors never came close to drowning, and he himself had nearly done it far more than three times. The sea was not a thing that held a grudge, but as he was shoved along by a force stronger than any he knew along with buildings, boulders, and people, he could not help but thing the sea was angry with him over something.

All these thoughts flashed by in an instant, his body and mind occupied in reaching for any piece of debris that he could take hold of and cling to to avoid being drowned or crushed. He went under countless times, but managed to come back up without broken bones or a pulped skull. Perhaps the water had come just to punish him for living in the Fire Nation too long, away from his tribe.

Somehow he had managed to hang on to Suzi, and she him. She was lying next to him, coughing up water when he woke up on his back in the middle of a damp, mud caked field nearly a mile from the beach where they had been. He barely recognized the area, as it was now nothing but piles of mud and broken wood.

"Sokka," Suzi said, coming over to him. "Sokka, look."

The only people near them were those who had been swept up in the wave, and all were covered in mud. They all stumbled about, their minds busy adjusting to the new world. When they could move with purpose, it was to begin pulling at arms and legs sticking out of the mud.

Sokka and Suzi used each other to get to their feet, and not knowing what else to do they moved about the mud, sticks, and rocks. Sokka urged her away from the hands and feet that did not move, and to the ones that did.

"It's coming back!" a woman shrieked. This time there were no bells only muted shouts, which the terror downed out as easily as any alarm.

The wave came towards them, but they were able to get back far enough to elude it. Sokka was one of the first to run after the wave as it retreated and pull at living bodies the water had freed. He shouted at Suzi to return home but she did not obey, and when the wave returned a third time soldiers had come from inland.

It was dark by the time Sokka and Suzi returned to the villa to be greeted by her hysterical mother.

-888-

A week had gone by since the tsunami, and while the sea was back to normal the people it touched were not.

At first, all thought the tsunami had been a freak disaster, even though a few muttered that the Earth Kingdom was responsible. Sokka helped coordinate cleanup efforts and it was his idea to bring the lost, injured, and the dead to separate areas where their loved ones could claim them. Their wails, their tears, and even their cries of joy followed him home where he wished for nothing more than a dreamless oblivion to see him through to the morning.

Fire Lord Zuko had come to the disaster area dressed for action in a simple soldier's uniform. His face was a grim stone when calling out orders and hearing reports, but Sokka saw him tell no less than a dozen people the fate of their loved ones. Their cries had not fallen on a cold heart, and Sokka was proud to be serving the Fire Lord and his people.

Among reasonable people it was assumed a natural earthquake had caused the tsunami. Nature could be cruel and uncaring, Sokka thought, but there was no use in bearing it a grudge for it felt nothing. For him, it was easier to make peace with it that way and he was well on his way to doing so when an airship arrived bearing strange news.

Sokka was one of many called to the Fire Lord's war room after the devastation the tsunami had wrought had been reduced to simple cleanup work. At the center of the room was a long table where large maps could be rolled out. The one out now showed the Fire Nation islands and the sea to the east of it.

The map had been marked with the location of an island the airship had spotted, one no one had seen before. The airship's captain said it was of an average size for the easternmost fingers of the archipelago, but being a seafaring people, it was unlikely it had gone unmapped for so long. Furthermore, it was rocky and slick. Silty with no vegetation. The captain said he flew as close as he dared, but something about it made him fly onward.

It was not good news, for islands did not suddenly spring up from the sea without the aid of a volcano, for which there was no evidence of in that area. Sokka knew what some of the generals were whispering. "Earthbenders," they said, these men who professed to have hated Fire Lord Ozai's rule but no doubt longed for it to return. None of those men sat at this table, and save for a few gaps the gathering had the air of a reunion. Sokka only wished the circumstances were happier.

"We have to get to the bottom of this," said Zuko, sitting at the head of the map table. "We have to get out to that island and find out why it suddenly rose out of the sea."

Bad weather had followed the airship captain's news of the island. It was his most practical reason for not stopping to explore it. Only the mightiest ships were out sailing and all airships were grounded. A messenger hawk had been sent to where Avatar Aang would likely receive it, but he was not expected for some time yet.

"You're the Fire Lord, order some men onto a boat and go," said Mai, who sat the far end of the table. Her presence added a tension to the air Sokka doubted was good, but Zuko had summoned her saying her help would be invaluable.

"I was hoping I could get some support," Zuko said, his words coming through clenched teeth. "I don't know what we'll find when we get there, and the people at this table are the only ones I can trust with this."

Sokka, who sat at Zuko's left across from Iroh, looked down the table to feed his sense of nostalgia. Next to Iroh was Piandao, and next to him Suki who was flanked by Ty Lee in her Kyoshi Warrior armor and face paint. Toph sat next to Sokka, and he could almost believe it was just like the days right after the end of the war when they were all together and no anger flowed between anyone.

"You have support, your Fire Lordy-ness," Sokka said. "It's just that we think having Aang and my sister along would be a really, really good idea given all the water that's likely to be involved."

"This talk of earthbenders being responsible is growing," said Zuko. "If this goes on any longer, some people might get ideas"

Mai rolled her eyes, but none at the table thought Zuko worried over the throne for his own sake. All knew that if there were to be a coup it would mean another war, and if it looked like the Earth Kingdom had caused the tsunami then a war might come to pass.

"And if we go and learn nothing, what then?" asked Piandao. "People are not as hungry for war as you might suspect, my lord. The worst you may have to face is an Agni Kai."

"Don't be so sure," said Iroh, his eyes squinting like they did when he played Pai Sho. "While I agree that we should wait for the Avatar, people's fears need to be calmed. Perhaps you could assign those you don't trust to assist with the clean-up work?"

"Send the traitors to the island!" shouted Toph. No one responded and she crossed her arms in a huff.

"How about we announce we're taking a trip to the creepy island, only we take a really long time to get ready. By the time we're done, Aang should be here and we'll be ready to go," said Sokka.

"That might work, actually," said Zuko. "I'll have a ship prepared, slowly. We won't make an official announcement, but we'll let the rumor mill get the word out something is being done. That will buy us more time. Worst case scenario, we have Aang meet us there meanwhile we ask the world's greatest earthbender if she thinks bending was involved."

"I keep telling you guys it would take two dozen earthbenders as powerful as me and King Bumi to raise an island like that from the sea floor," said Toph.

Before Zuko could respond, an old woman coughed loudly by the door. She stood like an old tree stump, looking bored. "I present the Avatar, and his..." her head turned and she whispered something to someone on the other side of the door. "Girlfriend." she said, dissatisfied.

All decorum vanished when Aang and Katara entered the room and Sokka's heart was made to feel light again. For a moment it was truly like the old days. It did not last, as the details of the tsunami's devastation and the business about the island had to be related.

"The island and the tsunami have to be connected," said Aang.

"That's obvious. The problem is we need it to be a natural phenomenon, which you can help explain to people," Zuko said.

"That's assuming it was natural," said Mai, darkly.

"Hey! You Fire Nation types are awfully paranoid about earthbenders, you know?" shouted Toph.

"Easy, easy," said Sokka. "I doubt it was earthbenders, come on."

"It doesn't matter if it was or not," said Mai. "If it was, the Fire Lord is going to tell everyone it wasn't to avoid a war. Lies and secrets, right?"

Zuko scowled and the empty silence seemed to suck what little good cheer there was in the room like a bitter cold. "I think if that's how you feel, Mai, then maybe you should leave," he said.

She did just that, and Sokka tried to catch Suki's eye as she left also, but she would not look at him. "Okay, then," Sokka said. "We've got a plan, everyone we need is here, let's do it. Agreed?" He looked to Zuko, who nodded and dismissed them all. When they were free to socialize, Piandao and Iroh wandered off, as did Ty Lee, while Zuko hung back near a pillar and watched the former Team Avatar mingle.

Aang and Katara told of their travels to the different air temples and cities. Aang said he had nearly become bogged down in people's troubles, but Katara had taught him to prioritize and save his energies for big problems, like the one the Fire Nation was facing now.

Sokka was happy to see them together, like a warm fire in the distance. If they called each other "sweetie," he did not notice.

Zuko offered Aang and Katara a room in the palace, but they declined. Katara said she wanted to be close to the sea while Aang said it would boost morale for people to see him. Zuko was disappointed, but he made sure their room was in a nice hotel. The sky was a bright purple when they all left the war room and into a large, open air hallway.

"Hey, Sokka, can I have a word with you?" Zuko asked as the group headed off.

"Of course, sire," said Sokka, unsure if he had used the correct honorific. "I'll catch up," he called to his friends.

"You can call me Zuko when we're like this."

Sokka nodded, remembering how alone the Fire Lord really was. "Zuko, what can I do for ya?"

"I wanted to thank you for your help with the tsunami. I know you grew up hating the Fire Nation, with good reason."

"Eh," Sokka said, remembering how they had all been united in mud and mortality by the un-living wave. It had reminded him of another time when his world consisted only of living people and death.

Zuko grinned and clapped Sokka on the arm. "That's what I'm talking about. Good old Sokka. So, getting to the point, I think this ambassador gig is beneath your ability. I'd like to promote you. How would like to be my right-hand man?"

"You mean like a vice-Fire Lord?"

"No, no, no," he said. "I want you to be my chief adviser. Uncle will go back to his tea shop in Ba Sing Se after this, and as much as I hate to even think about this, he won't be around forever. I need a smart guy with a level head, and to be really honest...no political ambitions."

Sokka knew better than to take offense. "Political ambitions" meaning "kill the Fire Lord in his sleep and take the throne." He understood Zuko's needs.

"Um, yeah," said Sokka. "I don't see why not. My ideas will still be your fault if they go wrong, right?"

"No, I've appointed a Royal Scapegoat for that," said Zuko. His face was stern, then he smiled and awkwardly punched Sokka in the arm. "Glad to have you at my side. Maybe you can give me some advice on how to handle crazy women."

"They're all crazy," said Sokka, seeing Suki move out of sight with the others, and spying Toph who had hung back behind a pillar to wait for him.

"Some are crazier than others. A lot crazier," said Zuko, his good humor taking a downward turn. He and Sokka exchanged a look, both their minds on Azula. While the others had little sympathy for her, Sokka and Zuko rarely laughed or made a joke about her.

Sokka extended his hand to seal the deal of his promotion to adviser, and Zuko took it. His arm felt hot, adding evidence to a theory Sokka held that all firebenders were inherently warmer than the rest of mankind, at least physically.

"I'm going to get some rest," Zuko said. "I haven't been sleeping well. Good night."

"Good night, Fire Lord, er, buddy. Buddy Lord?"

Zuko shook his head and disappeared into the palace, while Sokka went to meet Toph. "I heard everything," she said. "Congratulations on the promotion."

"Thanks. Hard to believe, though. I used to hate the Fire Nation, now I'm adviser to the Fire Lord."

"Don't screw it up," said Toph. "Zuko is going to need all the help he can get to keep from getting into another war."

"Come on, you've got to have a little more faith in him than that," said Sokka as they walked. His eyes were forward and keen to see Suki, but it appeared as though the others all had a long head start.

"I like Zuko and all, but I don't think he's got the temper for this. Mai kept him in line, but he screwed that up somehow so who knows what'll happen now."

"Well, he did call us all together to try and deal with this," Sokka said. "I think he knows he's not supposed to go it alone."

"Whatever you say," said Toph. "I don't know what he thinks we're going to find on that stupid island."

"We have to look," said Sokka. "People are freaked out. Maybe it'll be like old times again, but I doubt it."

"I know what you mean, it's not the same anymore," she said. "Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen are like the same person now, Suki isn't talking to you. It's a mess."

"Tell me about it," Sokka said. "I could really use some of the old vibe back. That tsunami was awful. Say, you haven't talked to Suki have you? We were goin' great there for a while then the letters got shorter then they stopped completely. I don't know what happened."

Toph let out a long, loud breath and stopped at the bottom of a long set of stairs they had descended. "All I know is that she said something about you having plenty of girlfriends where you live in the Fire Nation."

"What!? I haven't had any girlfriends!" shouted Sokka, covering his mouth when he heard his voice echo off the stone walls of the outer palace. "Where'd she get that idea?"

He saw Toph's cheeks turn red and figured she probably hated talking about this sort of thing. He had not been blind to her affection towards him in years past. "I don't know what made her think that, okay? I don't spend a lot of time with her, or with you. I run my metal bending school and that's it, alright?"

"Alright, alright," he said. "I'm not trying to draw you into anything I'm just asking. It's not like she'll let me talk to her."

"Word is you're sweet on a dark-haired girl in the Harbor District."

"Harbor City, and I'm not sweet on her," Sokka said. "I couldn't be. She's too...young."

A memory had shot through him like a lighting bolt, triggered by the thought of Suzi's face. Him and Azula at the South Pole. They had escaped the nightmare and her parting gift to him had been a kiss on his cheek with chapped lips, followed by a vicious cut to his neck with her fingernails. He touched the scar it had left, finding it faded.

"Yeah, yeah, you boys are all the same," Toph said, walking again. "Look, that's all I know. Maybe things will blow over now that you're both here. Let's find everyone at the resort or whatever and we'll party while we still can."

"Party. Sounds good," said Sokka, thinking this party would be the sort where he left early.

To be continued.


	3. Times of Madness

The resort had stocked their suite with the worst sort of fire wine, the kind that went down like water.

None of them were heavy drinkers and the wine went straight to their heads. Toph insisted on wrestling Aang in the middle of the room, and he lost badly while Katara giggled at the sight. Nearby, Ty Lee was trying to sober herself by hitting her own chakra points, her failure a great source of amusement for Mai and another Kyoshi Warrior who had hit it off with everyone.

All were oblivious to the argument taking place in the kitchen.

"What made you think I had other girlfriends?" asked Sokka, holding a bottle of fire wine in one hand and gesturing wildly with the other. "Do you think I'm that kind of guy?"

Suki's arms were folded across her chest, and while her face was nearing the same shade of red as the tunic she wore she watched the wine bottle in Sokka's hand as though considering what it might look like broken over his head.

"I don't know what kind of guy you are anymore. You spend all your time here in the Fire Nation and word gets around.

"Well then you don't know anything then," Sokka said, taking a pull from the bottle. "You just quit writing me letters, never came to visit. I'm an important guy here, you know now."

She snorted. "I guess you are," she said. "I quit writing you letters when I stopped getting yours. Hard to believe such an important guy can't get his mail sent. Maybe that girl you live with distracted you, I don't know. I don't much care anymore, either."

"What do you mean you don't care!?" Sokka said, catching the notice of the others, even those who had been on their way to nodding off. "What do you mean you don't care? How can you not care? We had something, Suki, how can you say you don't care?"

He laid his hand on her shoulder and leaned into her, tempting a hard shove but all he got was her turning her cheek. "Sokka, stop it. We had something, now we don't. Don't make it awkward."

"Make it, wha?" he was far too drunk to be having this conversation, this he knew somewhere deep down. How much wine had he drank? This felt like his second bottle, but there were more in the kitchen with him. "No, no, no. This, come on. How can you say these things? What happened, Suki? These people...these people are just, you couldn't even."

He wanted to explain to her how rumors fueled this town like a national pastime but the words would not form.

"Sokka, please..." she said, pushing him back. "Put the bottle down, you've had enough."

He finished the bottle and felt something in him tip. -Aaand there you go. Bye-bye, Sokka old buddy,- he thought.

"Suki. Suki, Suki, sweetie we can work this out. Let's just talk. Come on, let's talk. Just talk, I just want to talk, and say things to you that I think and feel, you know, come on Suki, please..."

"Sokka, we can talk in the morning, just lie down," she said, trying to lead him back to the common room where most of the activity had stopped.

"Suki...we almost died. The airships, the mountains, the blobs."

She scowled. "Come on, Sokka, let's go," she said, and waived for Ty Lee to come help her. Sokka could see what was happening.

"Fine!" he shouted, jerking away from her. "Fine! You want the truth! I'll tell you the truth. Are you ready!?"

He did not know where to begin so he blurted. "I love Suzi!"

"Her name is Suki," said Ty Lee, poking Sokka in the back.

"I know what I said," Sokka proclaimed, puffing his chest out. He was dimly aware that someone was coming up the stairs, likely a house keeper coming to tell them to shut up and go to sleep. He would have to say what he had to say now. "I said Suzi. That dark haired girl you heard about. I love her. How do you like that?"

Suki was looking past him, her face a mixture of disgust and vindication. Sokka turned to see Suzi herself standing near the door, her amber eyes darting around in confusion. "Hi," she said. "I'm...Suzi."

-Oh yeah, you never told her you'd be here so she went looking for you. Resourceful, ain't she? Great sense of timing, too,- he thought.

"Pleased to meet you, Suzi," said Suki. "Can you take lover boy here home? We're all very tired of him."

Sokka felt himself get shoved and was caught by Suzi, who gently led him down the stairs while smiling politely and moving fast. When Sokka reached the bottom he looked up to see Suki, her back lit by the lantern light. Ty Lee was standing next to her. "Oh, Sokka? While we're all telling the truth..."

She grabbed Ty Lee by the waist and pulled her closer as the sliding door was shut. Sokka blinked as the stairwell spun and he felt himself tugged along by Azula. No, Suki. No, Suzi.

"Can you believe that?" he asked the woman next to him. "She said she didn't care. After all we've been through together."

He looked into Suzi's face. "After all we've been through. Your leg...your poor leg. I know it hurt you so bad..."

"Sokka, you're scaring me," Suzi said, pushing him away from her face while managing to support him still... "Just keep walking and we'll get you into bed without mother seeing you. Everything will be okay in the morning."

"I'm sorry they scared you," Sokka muttered as his brain spun off into a muggy haze. "I'm sorry it's so dark down here. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone about it. Maybe they'd be nicer to you if I had."

"Shh, Sokka, take it easy," Suzi said. "No more fire wine for you. Ever."

"No more fire," he said. "Oh, no your fire's gone out...gotta get it back..."

The world was a complete blur of darkness by the time she got him to his bed.

-888-

"Sokka! Sokka, wake up!"

Suzi was shaking him, making his brain rattle in fuzzy agony. He groaned and tried to roll away from her, but she was incessant. "Sokka, something's happened! There are soldiers here to see you."

He smacked his lips and tasted stale fire wine and vomit. -Oh no, what did I do?-

He thought of the young nobles who would drink too much and carouse the city, using their connections in the morning to slip responsibility. Was he one of them now? He did not recall the party, but knew like he knew the sun was up that he had made a terrible ass of himself.

"What do they want?" he said, forcing his voice to be hard and flat.

"I don't know. They say something happened at the resort and they want you there right now. Sokka, this is serious!"

-Time to go pay the piper,- he thought, and sat up. He regretted doing that, but Suzi had come prepared with a large mug of some rich, red vegetable juice which Sokka downed in one long gulp.

"I tried to get you to drink some water last night, but you had completely passed out."

"Thanks," he said, handing her back the mug. "I owe everyone a huge apology for all of that, especially you."

"Oh, no, just forget it. But promise you'll never drink like that again, please?

"No problem there. Where are those soldiers?"

They went to the front door where two dour looking men in leather padded uniforms stood. "Your excellency, the Fire Lord is demanding your presence at the Sunset Resort, room twelve. There's been an incident."

"Level with me guys, what happened?" Sokka asked, pausing as he expected shackles to soon make an appearance.

"That's strictly classified," said the younger of the two soldiers.

"So classified no one told us," said the older. "You're to come alone."

Sokka nodded to Suzi who promised to have a large breakfast ready when he returned, plus a special cure for hangovers her mother swore by. Sokka rubbed his eyes and followed the soldiers after bidding her farewell.

The resort had been abandoned save for soldiers who roped much of it off.

At the top of the stairs to the suite they had been in was Ty Lee. Her war paint was smudged and her armor bore dings and scuff marks that had not been present the night before. "Ty Lee, what happened?" Sokka asked.

"You better go in," she said. "I'm sworn to secrecy." Even upset she sounded bubbly.

The first thing he noticed was the wall facing the sea was nearly gone, blown inward by some tremendous force. Nothing inside the suite had been left untouched, as if a typhoon had crashed the party.

Zuko stood with his arms crossed near the missing wall. Next to him was Toph, who sported a white bandage on her head stained with a dull brown spot over her left eye. She had a fat lip and bruises on her arms. "What happened? Where's Katara? Is anyone else hurt?"

"Your sister is in the infirmary. Relax, she's going to be fine. Suki is around with some of the other Kyoshi Warriors trying to get to the bottom of this," said Zuko.

"And Aang?" asked Sokka, thinking the fire wine had triggered his avatar state and he was responsible for this destruction.

Toph stepped in front of Zuko, hands on her hips. "After you left we talked about what a jerk you were, then we went to sleep. Then the wall exploded, and Aang was taken." Her voice was a mix of rage and sorrow and when her voice cracked Sokka thought she might cry, but she held it together and continued. "It was like a crate of blasting jelly went off in here, so it was hard to tell what the things were, but I know they had wings."

The hard floor beneath his feet felt like sand, and as he started to slip he realized there was nothing wrong with the floor, but everything had come loose and was moving. He shook his head and let the pain from his hangover bring the world into focus. "Things with wings? Like wolf bats?"

"I don't know!" Toph shouted. "More like slug bats or something. There were lots of them. Aang and Katara were bending. I don't know what happened, okay!?"

"Okay, I get it," said Sokka. "There was nothing you could do."

Zuko was waving his hands for Sokka to stop but it was too late. Toph stomped over to him and shoved him in the stomach, nearly making him puke. "If you hadn't been a moron, maybe you would have been here to help, but since you weren't you don't get to talk, got it?"

"Got it," he said, too sick to be angry. She left the room and punched the wall in the stairwell hard enough to splinter the wood.

"So, something kidnapped Aang. Great," said Sokka. "Just when were about to go to that island, too."

"You keep saying 'things' did it," said Zuko. "Unless we learn different, it looks like a group of people riding wolf bats swooped in here and took him. They might have left some kind of trail in the grove outside, which Suki is following. Maybe they dropped something that will be a clue to who they were."

"They'd have to be awfully big wolf bats for someone to ride them while they flew," said Sokka. "And what's all this stuff?"

He pointed to dark streaks of mud left around the room. Much was on the floor, but the walls had been stained.

"It's dried up since we got here," Zuko said. "It was slime or something."

"Slime," said Sokka, wiping his finger in some of it and bringing it to his nose. It smelled of the sea. "Are wolf bats slimy?"

"No," said Zuko, staring at Sokka.

Sokka was glad when a Kyoshi Warrior came running in, out of breath. "The beach," she said. "You should come, now."

"I need to see my sister first," said Sokka, knowing whatever physical injuries she bore would be nothing compared to news of Aang being taken. He dared not stop to wonder why he was as calm as he was.

The warrior paused and looked to Zuko. "I think you really should see this first," she said.

Kyoshi Warriors did not unnerve easily, they both knew. "It's just down on the beach, right?" Zuko asked, getting a nod. "Stay here, guard this place and rest. Ty Lee, come with us."

They reached the beach by going to the front of the resort and cutting through the grove of palm trees the kidnappers had plowed through. More of the slime was on the ground along with bent and broken trees and torn fronds. -Wolf bats my butt,- thought Sokka.

Suki and two other warriors were standing several feet from a pile of gray meat that seemed to have washed up on the beach. Behind them were soldiers busy shooing a curious crowd. Sokka thought the mass was a tiger seal or some kind of dolphin, but once he got closer he saw why the others had given it a wide berth.

It was the length of a very tall man. Its body was barrel-shaped and at one end it split into five prongs, like that of a starfish, only at the tip of each star arm was an dull red orb. Around the orb-tipped arms were a number of chela, and it appeared from the look of the teeth on the inside of the arms that this was the thing's mouth. Halfway down the body were long, sail-like wings. Opposite them were two strange appendages that fanned out into spider-like tendrils, and at the creature's base were five more starfish-like arms only thicker.

"It washed up while we were following the trail down the beach," said Suki. "The trail ends at the water."

"Looks like some kind of squid," said Zuko.

"It's the worst squid ever, then," said Ty Lee.

"It's a monster," said Suki. "And there were more of them. They took Aang out to sea!"

"Keep your voice down," hissed Zuko, looking at the soldiers farther down the beach who had managed to stop the onlookers from advancing, but had not driven off completely. "We need to get this thing off the beach and under cover before too many people see it."

"No way I'm touching it," said Ty Lee.

"Zuko, the lemur monkey is out of the bag. Let's just get some soldiers to move it then we can have some scholars find out what it is."

"If you think there was trouble before with the island and the tsunami, wait until people...Agh!"

The thing moved. Its wings flexed and for a moment they thought the wind had done it but when the barrel-shaped body contracted and the powerful feet tentacles got under it, the thing stood upright and began to emit a hideous piping noise.

Sokka quailed under the sound, for he had heard it before. Not it exactly, but an imitation produced by hundreds of amorphous mouths. Hearing the original sent his mind reeling back to that place of cold and dark, thousands of miles from where he was.

While the others jumped back, Sokka was frozen and helpless against being grabbed by bizarre appendages that erupted from a seam in the creature's body. The thing focused each of its red orbs on him, letting him see down its toothy gullet as its raucous piping noise became louder.

Two things occurred to him at once. One was this thing was gravely wounded, and seemed to be falling apart. The other was that the red orbs were eyes, and the toothy hole he was facing down its mouth. He supposed he was looking into its idea of a face, but this thought was short-lived as his mind suddenly felt like it had been left outside of his skull, unprotected as it was blasted by the wind.

-888-

The air around him was thick, almost like water. He stood on a stone plaza beneath an orange sky, hazy with vapor. He was part of a circle formed by dozens of the starfish-headed monsters. Behind them he could see the ocean, and nearby a sea of green ferns, massive ones like he had never seen before.

There was a noise in the air like a concert of flutes, the voices of the creatures. He tried to speak but soon found he was little more than a presence. The piping stopped and their attention was diverted to the horizon where the orange had become a bright red. What appeared to be a comet had streaked down from the sky, leaving a long trail behind it and kicking up a mushroom cloud the size of the sky itself. Sokka could feel the thick air vibrate from the impact and heard the creature's piping become louder and take on a note of panic.

They were all in motion now, and he grew dizzy for he could see in all directions at once. When his gaze dipped he caught a glimpse of the body he wore, and screamed soundlessly.

-888-

The sweat-soaked sheet on his body made him think he was still in that other world with its orange sky, thick air, and giant ferns, and he thrashed about in a brief panic. Darkness and then smells of stone and an extinguished oil lamp settled him.

Suddenly he was being smothered by something warm that smelled of saltwater and flowers. "Sokka, you're awake!" his sister said. She pulled him tighter to her, and he returned her embrace with a gentle pat.

"Had a nightmare. I dreamed I drank too much fire wine and said a bunch of stupid stuff."

She let him go and sat back in the chair next to his bed where she relighted the lamp. The stone walls told him he was not in Suzi's house. A dungeon, perhaps? "No, that actually happened," Katara said.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Let me guess, monsters kidnapping Aang was real, too."

He had not seen her face like it was since their mother had been killed. Sokka wiped his face with his hands and would have wanted more sleep but for the dim memory of his nightmare. "I haven't been hanging out with weird starfish monsters have I? Is the sky orange?" he asked, wanting desperately to see her smile.

"No," Katara said, her eyebrow raising. He would take confusion over her sick, stricken look. "One of the things we think took Aang got left behind. It attacked you, then died. Zuko burned it up."

"How long have I been out?"

She had been hale and plump-cheeked at the party, but now her skin was an ashen color and he could see the hollows in her face and eyes. "Two weeks," she said.

"Wha!?" he rolled of the bed and his weak legs refused to support him. Katara rushed to his side and helped him first to his knees, then onto the bed.

"Sokka, listen," she said. "Just listen and promise me you won't do anything right away, okay?"

"What do you mean two weeks? How hard did that thing hit me?" he was checking his head for bandages, or lumps, or cuts and finding nothing but unkempt hair.

"I couldn't find any physical injuries on you at all. Now, promise me you won't do anything rash, okay? Promise me."

"Alright, I promise. What is it, what's going on?"

She had been crying a great deal, but was tapped for tears now. "Zuko and the others went to that island on a ship a week and a half ago. Three days ago, it sunk."

"How'd the ship sink?"

"Not the ship, the island! They found the ship abandoned and there's no sign of them."

Her eyes had become moist, and Sokka put his hand out to comfort her. It felt like he was holding out a brick of stone. "By everyone you mean..."

"Suki, Toph, Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee, and a few of the Kyoshi Warriors."

-Suki, no. Not after all that garbage.- Sokka swallowed hard, knowing now was not the time to let his feelings run away with him. They might crush him completely if he gave them an inch, so he choked back his madness and squeezed Katara's hand.

"Who knows about this?" he asked, reminding himself that Zuko's fears about usurpers had not been unfounded.

"Everyone knows they went, and the rumors about them disappearing are spreading," she said. "Iroh fights at least one firebending duel a day against people who want him out of the way. He's holding the throne as regent for now."

Her voice was flat. She had rehearsed these words. "And you're afraid I'll run off after them and get lost myself?" he asked.

"I know it's silly. I should have gone with them, after Aang, but I couldn't leave you. I didn't know what to do," she said, her tears coming back.

He hugged her close to him and rubbed between her shoulder blades. "Everything will be fine. We don't know what's happening, so we can't assume it's hopeless."

-It might be, though,- he thought, remembering words he had shared with Azula in the South Pole years before. She had come to know things about what was going on beneath the desolate mountain, things too strange to be idle fancies. And then there was the journal they had found.

He wished he had not sent Hoplo's journal back to the Northern Water Tribe, for he was certain something in it might make their situation clearer. While he had poured over its maps and notes, using the information to orchestrate their survival, there had been other writings, things that made no sense, that had no context.

"Okay," he said, feeling his innards calm back to normal. "We have to take one thing at a time, just like when I was stuck with Azula. I need to get a handle on the situation. Where's Iroh? And Master Piandao?"

"Iroh has been in the war counsel room with some of the generals he trusts. There aren't many. Piandao is sometimes with him. What are you thinking of doing?"

"It depends on how much time we have," said Sokka. "I care about everyone we're missing, but Aang and Zuko being gone is going to hurt us the most. If the Fire Nation gets a new Fire Lord, that could mean another war. We need to take care of that first."

"Then what?" she asked.

"So totally not there yet," he said. "Please tell me we still have Appa?"

"Yes, but he's really upset about Aang. They had to tie him down."

Sokka clucked his tongue. "I'll make it a point to go see the big guy soon and calm him down. We lost Aang once before, remember?" He got dressed behind a screen and after getting his hair in order, he and Katara left the room. They were now outside on a stone path that ran atop a wall separating the palace grounds from the city.

"I need you to do something for me," he said.

"What?"

"You remember those underwater boats we used on the Day of Black Sun to invade the Fire Nation? The submarines?"

"Yeah, they were all captured," Katara said.

"And hopefully not scrapped. Find Piandao and get his help figuring out what was done with them. If there's one left we might need it."

Her mouth pressed into a hard line, and she nodded. "We'll need them if we're going to the bottom of the sea. The pressure is too much for my bending. Will the submarines handle it?"

"If they can't, I'll make it so they can," he said. "We might not need them, but if we do it's best to be ahead of the game. Meet me back here later, okay? And tell Suzi I'm awake."

"Suzi, that girl you like? She looks just like Az..."

He sputtered and shook his finger. "Never mind all that nonsense! She's been a good friend to me, better than I deserve. Please?"

"Alright," Katara said. "I guess it's not fair to dislike her for how she looks. But it's eerie, don't you think?"

He rolled his eyes but figured Katara needed something to take her mind off the desperate situation, even if only momentarily, so he nodded and thought he could use something to divert his thoughts also. "Yeah, it's weird. I'll see ya later." He patted her on the arm and they parted.

-888-

Seeing Iroh in the shadows of the war room made him appreciate how young the man had once looked, despite his age. His wrinkled skin was ashen in color, his gray hairs gone to white, and his once sparkling amber eyes were now flat and the color of pus. There was a burn on his right hand from a recent Agni Kai he had fought with a young general, a man who had been willing to risk banishment to weaken Iroh's position as regent.

"So it's that bad, huh?" Sokka said, after hearing of Iroh's woes. The fires that normally lit the room were out, and all they had for light was some lamps hung from posts.

"I'm afraid so," Iroh said. "Part of the problem is that Zuko's claim to the title of Fire Lord was his defeat of Azula in an Agni Kai at her coronation, but as we all know he had a little help."

"But she threw the lighting bolt at my sister," Sokka said, who like everyone else only knew of Azula's last battle from accounts Katara and Zuko had given. "She's the one who failed the Agknee whatever when she got someone else involved."

"Agni Kai is a set of words used to describe a fight, and all a fight proves is who won," said Iroh. "Perception is what is important here and Zuko has not been Fire Lord long enough for all to perceive him as being a true ruler. As you know, many think my brother is the true Fire Lord and if not him, then Azula."

"We just need to find out what happened to Zuko and Aang before these people can try something serious," said Sokka. "I've got my sister looking for Piandao who might know where some old submarines are. Once we get one, we can..."

"There's no time," Iroh said. He took a deep, rattling breath and looked like he might collapse into himself where he sat overlooking the long table. "I know you will go looking for the others in any event, but I fear there will be a coup here soon, and if that happens the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom will be at war again."

Sokka signed, not wishing to arguing politics with the old man. He was right anyway. Thankfully he had not brought up a possibility that had crossed both their minds, one Sokka felt was useless to consider.

In the silence and gloom, the wheels of Sokka's mind turned. He and Iroh had discussed the strange happenings, and he had told the old man of his dream. Iroh asked many questions, and while both agreed it was likely no normal dream neither could say what it meant.

"I know you and your friends are used to solving big problems, but this may be out of your hands. Focus on finding the ones we love and let me and the rest of the White Lotus do what we can here," said Iroh. "After my son died I stepped away from power and focused my attention on my nephew. That was wise then, but not now."

"I think you're right," said Sokka, knowing it had taken all of Iroh's wisdom and self-control not to insist on searching for Zuko himself. "It's too bad we can't pull the same trick the Dai Li did in the Earth Kingdom, only in reverse. The Earth King didn't have a clue there had been a war going on his entire life. We could make everyone think Zuko is still here and calling the shots."

"The Fire Nation is very different from the Earth Kingdom," Iroh said. "There they place a great deal of importance on institutions and customs. The system rules, while here the strength of a ruler's personality is what binds us. But perhaps not...Since Fire Lord Sozin, it seems like it's been the same man ruling only with a different face."

"Yeah," Sokka said, stifling a yawn and knowing when he had provoked an old man into rambling. He stood, then nearly fell down as an idea struck him. "Faces! Yes! No...wait, yes! I have an idea, but you're the only one that can tell me if it will work."

Iroh's brow furrowed, but his dull eyes had threatened to twinkle. "Oh?"

"Follow me!"

Iroh had thrown on some peasant's robes before leaving the palace along with a straw hat and followed Sokka to Suzi's house. It had become dark and the loss of the day made Sokka bounce with impatience. Suzi opened the door and in the lamplight her eyes were puffy from crying. He felt his throat lock up when he realized the massive favor he was about to ask her. "May we come in?" asked Iroh after Sokka had been silent for too long.

"Yes, of course," Suzi said.

"Az...no," Iroh said when they were inside and all was bright from lanterns. "I think I see where you're going with this, young man."

"What's going on?" Suzi asked.

"Well, there's something I kinda wanted to run by you," said Sokka. "It's a huge favor and I'll owe you more than I can ever pay you back for."

"The world may owe you a debt," said Iroh. "Ah, forgive me. We've been terribly rude." He bowed. "I am Iroh, Regent to the Fire Nation. Eh, Sokka is my adviser but you know him."

"Yes, I do," she said, smiling and wiping her eyes. "Why don't we talk over tea? Mother is out, as usual."

The mention of tea brightened Iroh's spirits considerably and soon they were sitting around the same table Sokka had felt so at ease at weeks before with steaming cups in front of them. "This is fine tea," said Iroh. "If you ever want to work in a tea shop, come to Ba Sing Se."

Suzi smiled, but her looked hardened when she turned to Sokka. "You should thank your sister that I even let you in the door," she said. "You're in a coma for days and when you wake up you start running around instead of coming to see me...tsk, tsk, tsk."

She was kidding, and he let out a breath into his tea making it look like he was cooling it. -Something tells me Katara said a few others things to her, too,- he thought, sensing Suzi was now more distant than she had been, although the space between them was warm.

"I was supposed to meet her earlier, too," Sokka said. "But let's get down to business, and I'll confess I haven't had all the details worked out, but, Iroh, you know what I've got in mind, will it even work?"

Iroh looked to Suzi and held his hands up before him to frame her face. "With some acting and a little makeup, I think it could. The resemblance is...disturbing. No disrespect."

Suzi squirmed. "This is getting a little creepy," she said.

"You look just like Princess Azula," said Sokka. "I mean, you're hair is cut different and you're way, way, way, nicer and a lot less crazy, but with some effort only the people who knew her well could tell the difference."

"It's true. Azula is my niece and I doubt I would be able to tell the difference right away if your makeup and hair were done differently."

Suzi nodded and pushed an errant strand of black hair back into place. Her look of befuddlement had not left her features. "I've had some people remark on the resemblance, but I've never seen the princess herself. I heard she was locked up in a special cell somewhere because she went mad."

Sokka almost said it was more complicated than that, but he merely nodded. "The real problem is that with Zuko and Aang missing some people want to take over or maybe even put Azula back on the throne. The war would start again."

Suzi's face hardened and it was as though Azula had stepped into her skin, making both men squeeze their tea mugs tighter. "Why would anyone do that?" Suzi said. "Haven't enough children grown up without fathers?"

"More than enough," said Iroh, his eyes rolling over the portrait of a man that hung on the wall between two windows. "If you could pretend to be her, I could arrange it so you were crowned Fire Lord. You would make your first act the appointment of me as your adviser, and we can prevent a war from breaking out. With the help of some Pai Sho players I know in the Earth Kingdom, maybe this can work."

"I'm game," said Suzi, and she took a deep sip of tea. Sokka looked to the portrait on the wall. It was a detailed pencil drawing of a man with soft eyes and sharp features. "This is going to be dangerous," Sokka said. "Even if you're not discovered, being someone like Azula isn't easy."

"Iroh can give me pointers," said Suzi. "But where's the real Azula going to be during all of this? What are we going to tell my mother? She's not around much, but she's kinda protective."

"We can tell your mother the Southern Water Tribe is looking for a Fire Nation ambassador, and given that I'm the Water Tribe's ambassador here, it seemed like a good fit. Tell her it's only for a few months and it'll move you up in the world. As for the real Azula, I don't know what we're going to do with her yet. There's a lot I don't know, but this is going to give us some breathing room."

"It doesn't matter how long the journey is, it's all accomplished by putting one foot before the other," said Iroh. "And your next step should be to find your sister before she gets mad. I'll talk with Suzi some more. You can leave much of this to me now."

"Thanks," Sokka said. "I'll come by later." This he said to Suzi who smiled kindly at him. When he left, he ran back to his room in the palace and found Katara there, sitting in the dark by herself.

"Sorry I'm late, but one our biggest problems might be solved," he said, and told her about his plans for Suzi and Azula.

"It is a good thing I talked to her," said Katara. "She liked you, you know."

"I know," said Sokka. "I didn't know how to put her off without being a jerk so I never did. And now Suki thinks I'm a jerk, and she's..."

He sat on his bed and hung his face in his hands. Katara sat next to him and put her arm over his shoulder. "I have good news, too. I found Piandao and he seemed like he could find one of those old submarines easy enough."

"Good," he said, picking his head up. "I need to go see Azula."

"We'll go in the morning," said Katara.

"No, just me. We need her on board, at least a little, and I think I can convince her if it's just me."

"Okay," Katara said. "I know I'm not her favorite person. The feeling is mutual, actually."

Sokka kicked off his boots and laid down. Katara did the same and lay on the other side of him, and after the lamp was blown out he could almost pretend it was like when they had been children, sharing a pile of furs while Gran Gran snored. There was no snoring now, only the hum of Sokka's mind as it spun in circles, threatening to form terrible patterns.

To be continued...


	4. Together Again

After loudly proclaiming his status as adviser to the Fire Lord and insisting that he was there on direct orders from the regent, Sokka was admitted into the asylum after having his boomerang taken and his body thoroughly searched by some rough-handed guards.

"I trust you will report to the regent how seriously we take security and patient safety," said Chief Healer Bin. She sported a few more wrinkles than when Sokka had last seen her but was otherwise unchanged. "Naturally, we had been working on these protocols for some time and have only recently begun to implement them."

"Naturally," said Sokka. It was clear they feared Azula would be assassinated or kidnapped, and he wondered who had pressured the asylum's keepers to be more careful. His coming here would likely be noted, but it was necessary to secure Azula's cooperation.

Azula had been moved. Rather than go down the long hall towards the sea, Bin led him down a flight of spiraling stairs where the walls were cold and damp and smelled of seawater. "She's regressed," said Bin when whey were in the dark and headed for light at the end of the hallway. "Although that would imply progress had been made in the first place. In any case, she had to be moved to more secure quarters."

Sokka did not believe this until they reached the cell. Bars and a fine steel screen of the sort that kept sparks escaping from fireplaces to set the floor aflame had been placed around the large stone room. The walls were covered in scorch marks that made patterns he could not discern.

The torchlight was enough to show him his foggy breath, but the air was not cold enough to freeze the water dripping from the walls. "Is she down here like this all the time?" he asked.

"Yes. It's necessary to keep her bending in check. She's a very powerful bender, as I'm sure you know."

Sokka swallowed, thinking even Azula did not deserve to live like this, not with what she had been through. -Her mind is gone, there's no way she's kept sane through this,- he thought.

"I won't be long, but this needs to be a private conversation," he said.

"Just so you know, you won't be allowed to leave until someone checks on her," said Bin. "I'll be at the top of the stairs with a team of guards. And that's only because I trust you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sokka said.

When Dr. Bin was gone, Sokka called out to Azula twice with no answer. Thinking she was asleep, he reached into his wolf's tail and removed something long, metal, and thin. Iroh had made sure he was equipped with it before he left for the asylum and he slipped it into the lock on the cell and turned it slowly, knowing that if it broke he was out of options.

"Azula," he said when he was in the cell. "Azula, it's me, Sokka. Wake up, come on."

She sprang at him from the dark and they went down with her on top. Even with her clanking shackles she was able to straddle him and breathe a jet of flame at his face, which he dodged only by sitting up and tucking his head into her shoulder.

Her restraints made it nothing for him to roll her off and sit on her back, keeping her head down and to the side while clamping his hand over her mouth. "Stop, just stop! I'm getting you out of here!" he whispered, expecting to hear the boots of guards clomping down the hall.

Azula stopped squirming and her amber eye rolled up at him with the look of a panicked animal. She shook her head until his hand left her mouth. "Get me out? H-how?"

That her first question was not "why" told Sokka how bad it had been for her. "That's what we have to talk about," he said. "Some stuff has happened."

He told her about Aang, his experience on the beach, Zuko's lost expedition, and finally the coup Iroh was expecting. He did not tell her about Suzi and hoped she did not sense he was holding something back, for everything hinged on her now.

She laughed and buried her face into the stone floor while her body shook. She laughed for a long time, long enough for him to think their time was growing too short. "Are you going to slip the dagger in me, or not?" she asked. "No, poison then? You've come very ill-prepared, Sokka, unless you mean to strangle me with those snow peasant hands of yours."

"I didn't come to kill you," he said. "I was hoping you'd help me get to the bottom of all this."

"And why shouldn't I take my rightful place as Fire Lord?" she asked. "I conquered Ba Sing Se once, I can do it again, and this time all my enemies seem to be gone."

He got to his feet and hoisted her into a standing position. She was hunched over; not all of her shaking had been from laughter. "No, there won't be anyone to stand in your way at all. You'll rule the world right up until whatever took Aang decides otherwise."

She leaned against him and composed herself, standing up straight after a final tremor shook her beneath her jacket. "I've been dreaming," she said. "That thing that touched me in the caves, it exposed me, stripped away some kind of protective coating I once had, and now horrors of all kinds can send me dreams and thoughts."

A single, sickly lamp provided the cell's only light, and with some effort Azula made it glow brighter, revealing the scorch marks on the wall. Sokka looked at them and shuddered. They depicted a surprisingly well-made drawing of a city with mad, twisting streets and equally twisted spires, and dark places. Above the city loomed something like a dark sun, only its rays were like tentacles. "Is that what you dream about?" he asked when the light faded.

"Yes," she said. "It's what I see. I hear things, too."

"Hang in there for a little longer," he said. "We'll be getting you out sooner rather than later, but don't go thinking I won't take you down hard if you try anything funny, got it?"

Her smile was evil, only her eyes held some other emotion that confused and frightened him. "For a moment it almost sounded like you were feeling sorry for me," she said.

"I just think you need a nicer cage. I haven't forgotten anything," he said.

"Did you forget what I left you on your cheek?"

He rubbed his neck, feeling the scar she had left him with her fingernails. The kiss had been burned into his memory. "I remember the scar you left on my neck," he said.

"I didn't want you to forget who you were dealing with."

"I didn't," he said. "Good bye. You'll be out of here soon."

"Soon," she said, and went back to where she had been sitting while Sokka locked the cell door and made his way back to Bin, who he hoped thought him too much a savage to attempt any chicanery.

-888-

Sokka ate all the rice around his calamari, and was poking the remains of the tentacled beast with his chopsticks while pondering how to tactfully tell the dinner servers he would no longer be eating things that did not have spines. He could not shake the image Azula had scorched into the wall of her cell, and could not stop associating it with some tentacled monstrosity despite not having a clear idea on what it actually was supposed to have been.

With him in his room was Piandao, whose face Sokka was glad to see, and Katara, who looked better now that they were taking action. "The scholars could not identify that thing on the beach," said Piandao, having waited for them to partially finish their meals. "I normally don't like to make assumptions, but it seems clear they came and went with the island. It would seem we now need to find a way to go after them."

"So it would seem," said Sokka, catching on to his teacher's phrasing. "We know Zuko and the others went there on a boat. We know the island sank. We know they haven't come back yet. We'd be pretty dumb to just hop in a submarine and go down there with no clue about what we're getting into."

He saw Katara stir and held up a finger to delay her objection. "Think about it, two of the strongest benders we know, and some pretty strong non-bending warriors, all got captured. And that's when they weren't a mile under water."

Katara crossed her arms and frowned at him, aware of how she was normally the one calling for caution and forethought. "So what's your plan, then? Get a bunch of earthbenders together to raise the island from the sea?" she asked.

"No, but write that down," Sokka said. "I need to know who, or what, took Aang and why. Once I'm sure of it, then we can worry about going diving."

"You said 'sure of it.' Do you suspect something now?" asked Piandao.

Sokka forced himself to eat a piece of squid, and as he chewed he pondered for the thousandth time on whether or not to keep silent about what he had encountered beneath the mountains in the South Pole. He and Azula had seen nothing like the creature on the beach, but he remembered vividly what she had said after her mind was touched by one of the beings that did live there.

They had been sitting in a tent he had built from spare airship canvass and the remains of the expedition that had gone through the caves some two-hundred years before them. Azula's bending had left her temporarily, and without it they could not heat the air in the balloon he had planned to build. He forgot how they had come on the subject, but in talking about the blob monsters and the builders of the ruined city she'd said:

"The blobs didn't make that city. Tube-like monsters with heads like starfish, and the wings of wolf bats built it. They made the blobs, too, but they made them too smart, and one day they rose up and killed their creators." She had spoken in a semi-trance, almost as though she had rehearsed a speech. "The stupidest of those starfish-headed things would make our brightest scholars look like children or fools. They colonized this planet like they did many others and created those blob things to serve them. The blobs...they don't think, not really. They mimic thinking like they mimic our voices and their master's voices, but they're really just mindless idiots that can absorb, store, and transfer information."

She had said other horrible things as well, that the starfish-headed things had created the first life on the planet then ignored it, meaning he, along with everything he knew and loved, was nothing more than a poorly tended science experiment.

He remembered his glib, stupid response. "So?" he had said.

Starfish-headed things, with wings like wolf-bats. If the blobs mimicked their language like she said, then that meant their language had consisted of weird piping noises. The thing they found on the beach fit the description alright.

Now he looked his teacher in the eye and lied.

"When we first went to the Northern Water Tribe, Yue showed me the library there. She mentioned a weird book about starfish-headed monsters. Plus, you know, the things live in the sea, Water Tribe, I figure it's a good place to go ask questions."

He could see he had not fooled Piandao, but the man merely stroked his chin.

Sokka felt awful about lying, but could not bear telling them the truth after so long. He had been a liar all these years. His only consolation was that his fears about the world knowing the truth were likely well-founded. Too much poking by humans had likely roused the starfish monsters, he thought. Perhaps all was not as it had seemed under those mountains. Perhaps the blobs were not as free of their masters as Azula thought. Was it not conceivable that the starfish-headed things had become annoyed over their pets being disturbed? If they found the crashed airship, they might have enough information to know something about the human civilization beyond the snowy wastes.

None of that explained the rising and sinking island, Aang's kidnapping, or anything Azula had said since. "We need information, that's the bottom line," he said, telling the truth.

"I agree with you," said Katara. "But it feels like we're abandoning them."

"Far from it," said Piandao. "I just hope your search for answers bears fruit quickly."

"We've got Appa to fly us north, and the switcharoo we're going to pull with Azula and Suzi should keep things together around here long enough for us to learn something and come back. If we learn nothing, then I'm with you, Katara, we'll charge in with every powerful bender who's willing to come along."

"Speaking of the 'switcharoo,' what are we doing with Azula in the meantime?" asked Katara.

"Tahing hur wi' s'" Sokka said, cramming a mass of rice into his mouth.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't be," he said, swallowing.

"It sounded like you said she's coming with us," said Katara, rising to her feet with her hands balled into fists.

"I didn't say those exact words," said Sokka, bowing his head.

"Are you crazy? She's crazy! Homicidal, too. I take it there's a method to your madness?"

"We can keep an eye on her better if she's with us," he said. "Keeping her locked up somewhere else would require trusting a lot of people, and we can't risk that yet. It's better she's under our thumb and a thousand miles away from the Fire Nation than close by where she can find supporters and cause trouble."

It surprised him how much sense that made, and while Piandao clearly sensed ulterior motives, Katara had a look of grim acceptance. "As long as she's clear that I'll put her down permanently if she tries to hurt us, I'll go along with it," Katara said.

"I'll make sure she gets the message," he said. "Just so you know, she might be as interested in finding Zuko as we are, plus she's no slouch in a fight, which we might run into."

The notion Azula cared for Zuko died a cold, lonely death on the flat expanse of Katara's face, while Piandao expressed his own doubts with a pensive look.

"When is the switch happening?" Katara asked.

"Tomorrow," said Piandao. "Iroh has started rumors that he will be abdicating the throne to Azula, which has slowed down some of the maneuvering against him. You two don't have to worry about this part, just be ready to leave with the real Azula tomorrow evening."

"I'd better go check on Appa, then," said Sokka.

Katara had been soothing the sky bison as much as she could, but without Aang he had not been in a good mood. Sokka knew the bison had some spiritual connection to Aang and thought if Appa was still worried, and not wallowing in despair, that was a good sign that Aang still lived.

Appa had been stabled in an ostrich horse barn. The sight of chains around his ankles pained Sokka, who let the bison lick him with his massive, flat tongue as his nose was petted. "I don't know if you can understand me all that well, big guy, but to help Aang we have to go far away like we did last time. I promise I won't make as much of a mess as I did then, okay?"

Appa made a low rumbling noise and Sokka patted his big black nose, taking his grunt as a sign of understanding. He smiled and thought of Momo, who according to Katara was keeping Bumi company until Aang's next visit. "What do you think, big guy? Am I making a huge mistake bringing Azula along?"

Appa's grunt could have meant anything. "We've been through rougher than this, haven't we?"

The bison grunted heavily and sunk down into the hay that had been laid out for him. The smell of the stray mixed with Appa's musk, and Sokka remained until the odor filled his nose and mouth, and clung to his clothing. It was a comforting smell that reminded him of better days and hills already climbed.

Appa suddenly stirred in a way that was like a spark through Sokka. He turned. Down the muddy path that ran between the smaller stables were two men trying to duck out of sight behind a pile of straw. When they saw that they were spotted, they dropped all pretense and came towards Sokka.

It was hard to tell their age but one was older than the other and likely a father or much older brother. They wore the tunics typical of Fire Nation peasants, only unlike most Sokka had seen near the wealthy capital islands these men's clothes were threadbare and dirty.

They were remarkably ugly, he noted. They sported no facial hair on their grimy, slick-looking skin. They had fleshy throats, almost no chins, sloping heads with receding hairlines, and not only were their eyes a tad too far apart, they bulged from their sockets more than was normal.

"You that snow savage thinks he's Fire Lord?" the younger one said when the men stopped in front of him. Appa had risen and was growling, which should have put both men on edge but they did not seem to notice the big beast.

Sokka held off on reaching for his boomerang, but turned so the men could see it clearly. "Get lost," he said, for there was nothing he wanted to hear from someone who called him a snow savage.

"We ain't the ones that's lost," said the younger. "You is. More lost thin you knows. Best clear off, or..."

"He ain't gon listin," said the older one, whose voice was like an old mole toad. "I told yew he ain't gon listin."

The young one licked his fat, greasy lips with some difficulty. His mouth seemed more inclined to open and close like a fish rather than the wide mouthed amphibian he resembled. "'Spose yew right on that account," said the younger. "Alright, do whit ye want."

Their daggers appeared at the same time, and Sokka was almost caught off his guard when they both shouted in near unison "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

-Cthulhu,- was the word that rung in his mind. He head heard it before, from Azula, and the word had been ugly even from her lips. Uttered by these men it was nothing short of grotesque, hearing it was like being splashed with the contents of a chamber pot.

Appa let out a deep rumble that ignited Sokka into motion. He drew his boomerang in the same movement he used to close the distance between him and the younger man.

These men were not warriors. Their dagger work was done in the dark when their victims were asleep or too weak to fight back. They had taken him for such a weakling, and only the old man was able to regret the error for long. Sokka stepped around the younger man as he lunged and hit him in the back of the head with his boomerang. It looked and sounded like a mere tap, but the younger man went down hard, leaving Sokka to bounce on his feet before the elder.

Insane anger flashed in the man's fishy eyes and he slashed the air in front of him with the dagger, pushing Sokka back towards Appa, who was not free to come out of his stable. The older man had more experience with the knife, and his wild slash drove Sokka back to force him into a tighter space.

The man intended to grab Sokka or his boomerang, then stab, but Sokka ruined the strategy by swinging for the hand that held the knife. The blade went clattering to the ground while the hand that held it was left to dangle from a snapped wrist.

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" the man screamed, shaking his head and wagging his jowls. Foam was on his lips as he charged. Sokka ducked and dealt him a blow to the knee cap, breaking it into two pieces and causing the man to collapse in a heap. Rather than rise, he lay coiled in pain, muttering strange words.

Sokka did not have to go far to find some soldiers who were on their way already from having heard the screams. The old man spit and tried to bite them all while shouting "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" and other foul-sounding words, none of which Sokka could have repeated had he tried.

Things happened quickly. Sokka felt as though he had slipped and fallen in a stream and was being buffeted along, colliding with different faces and locations all the while being asked questions and to repeat his story about what had happened.

A numb feeling came over him when he was told the younger man was dead, and the older had taken his own life.

When the feeling of being carried by a river stopped he was sitting in the war room with Iroh, Piandao, Katara, and Suzi, the last of which wore a thick head scarf and a shawl.

Sokka made a sound like a bird calling then said "Cuth-ooh-lu fuh-tan. At least that's what it sounded like."

"And you say you think you've heard something like it before, in the Northern Water Tribe?" asked Piandao.

"My memory is kinda fuzzy," Sokka said, wishing Piandao would stop acting so skeptical, as it seemed to be catching on with the others. "When I was there, I was more worried about the Fire Nation invasion than weird books and chants."

"We just can't afford a wild boar-q-pine chase if there are other options to explore," said Piandao.

"It's not a wild chase, believe me," Sokka said, hoping for trust if not belief. "Does anyone know who those guys were? They didn't look like they were from around here."

Iroh cleared his throat and his features narrowed, making him look like a gray, moss-covered rock. "Both men are dead, so we can't ask them questions," said Iroh.

His words made Sokka's stomach turn, but he kept his composure by acting stern. "That's too bad, but they made it pretty clear they were tying to kill me," he said.

"You acted appropriately," said Piandao. "We suspect they were from a distant settlement called Outer-maw. It was once a prosperous fishing village, but it fell on hard times many, many years ago and the people there, well, let's say they've developed a reputation."

"But why would a pair of dirt bags come after Sokka?" asked Katara. "I mean, I know he's important now, but..."

"Now? Now!?" Sokka said, indignant. He crossed his arms while Katara frowned. "They did say something about me thinking I'm the Fire Lord," was all he chose to volunteer. Right now, their motives looked one part political and two parts racist, and he decided that was best.

-Every time something like this happens and you keep quiet, it gets worse,- he thought.

Katara would learn the truth soon enough, he realized, but perhaps not all of it. It depended on what they found in the Northern Water Tribe and if he could somehow get Hoplo's journal back without admitting he had once held it. Azula would also have to keep her mouth shut, and that thought made him feel heavy.

-Hoplo's journal never mentioned a "Cthulhu," I'm pretty sure, but it sounds so messed up I might have thought it was a scribble and skipped over it. And that city under the south pole...all domes and tunnels. That city Azula drew was nothing like that.-

It occurred to him that telling them the truth about the south pole might not shed light on anything, only add to the confusion and lead to questions he could not answer.

"We'll have to take more precautions, given the attack," said Piandao, breaking Sokka out of his thoughts.

"Have guards been placed around Appa?" he asked.

"They have," said Iroh. "And I would strongly recommend you two not wander around by yourselves. You're both very capable of defending yourselves, but even the strong have been known to fall under knives from the shadows."

Both siblings nodded somberly, and after talking with Piandao more about the submarine, they left to Sokka's new quarters while Suzi went with Piandao to be hidden in an out of the way chamber until the ideal time she could be switched with Azula.

As they walked across the palace grounds, the night had taken on a thickness Sokka did not like. Every shadowy corner seemed to hold a white, bloated face and he felt the handle of his boomerang for comfort. Had nothing else worried his mind, he might have felt heavy over having killed a man, but like the men who had died in the airship explosion three years ago, the act was distant from him, as though someone else had done it.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked as the night air brought a chilly breeze between them.

"I've got a lot on my mind. I'm sure you do, too."

"Yeah. It feels a little like the old old days, before we met Aang."

"I wish. The world seemed pretty small then. Had I known better, it might have been harder to jump on the back of a flying buffalo with some weird kid and fly away, you know?"

"You would have gone anyway," she said. "I always thought you were meant to roam farther than our little village."

"Yeah? Sometimes I think I'm in way over my head. I mean, Zuko named me his adviser. The Fire Lord's adviser. That's nuts."

"You know, you were always kind of the leader of Team Avatar," she said. "You did a lot to save the world."

"We all did, I still think it should be called the BoomerAang Squad," he said.

"Ah, no," she said, her laugh a little puff of air. "Sokka, why are we really going to the Northern Water Tribe?"

He stopped walking and let the night close in on him, thick and blinding. His sister's bronze skin blended in with the shadow, making her blue tunic and eyes stand out. He looked around as though making sure they were alone to buy himself a few more seconds. "I didn't lie," he said. "We need more information on what's happening, and we can get it there."

"You said Yue told you about a book, and you thought you heard that weird chant before. Piandao didn't believe you, and neither do I," she said.

She was not angry, but the fear in her voice was worse than any stern words she could have uttered. Sokka pressed his lips together and reminded himself that she did not need to know everything. "There is a book there I think can help, or maybe many books. I had the book once. I found it, someplace."

"You're not making any sense. Sokka, please, tell me what's going on. Aang is missing and so is everyone we care about. Please."

His hands twitched. He wanted to cover her mouth, to make sure she said nothing more in that tone again. It had come quick, blindsiding him, reminding of a day many years ago when he had listened to her crying, begging their mother to move again.

Sokka could not lie to her now, but the full truth seemed just as cruel and would only make him look insane and make her more afraid.

"Alright, I'll tell you," he said. "When I was stuck in the South Pole with Azula, we went through some caves. I told you about that, but what I didn't tell anyone was the cave had been visited by explorers before us. I guess not all of them made it out, because we found an old mummy. I also found the mummy's journal, which I read. The guy had seen some weird stuff, and I'm pretty sure he mentioned something like what we saw on the beach, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I sent the journal to the Northern Water Tribe because that's where the guy was from. I want to at least look at the journal again, or maybe find some smart guys at the library who might know something."

"I can't believe you," she said, and began walking quickly.

"But that's the truth! Why would I lie?"

"You're not lying, but you're not telling me even half the story," she said. "Did you forget I'm your sister? That I know you better than anybody? Or at least I thought I did."

He could only blubber, having been blindsided by the speed of her anger. He let her storm away, knowing their quarters were not far off and the palace was thick with extra patrols. She would be more reasonable in the morning, he thought.

-She's reasonable now. What's the point in keeping all this from her? You think Azula will keep her mouth shut? Oh, man, she's going to have a field day with this.-

Most times his plans came together like jigsaw puzzles. Before him was all the pieces, the problem, the resources he had, and he turned them over to see which ends fit and which ones did not. Other times ideas shot nearly formed like lighting bolts from the dark, swirling cloud beneath his conscious mind. An bolt had come up just now, nearly perfect, and he acted.

He ran to one of the guardhouses where he knew he would be well received if there were anyone there at all not out on patrol, and went to the changing room. There he located two guard uniforms. He put one on and tucked the other into a knapsack. He stopped briefly to consider provisions, but speed was of the essence now, and he had enough money in his coin purse to purchase what he wanted soon enough.

-This is dumb,- he thought. -Really dumb. Not only will it not work, no one is going to be happy with you.-

But it would work. He would learn something in the Northern Water Tribe that he could use to save his friends from some monsters, and "some monsters" is all they would ever be known as by those he loved, and the world at large. At worst he would be seen as impetuous and over-protective, foolhardy maybe. Not a liar who kept secrets.

Sokka rented an ostrich horse and reached the asylum in an hour. Dressed as a guard and being familiar with the place, he had no trouble getting inside, but once he tried to reach Azula's cell things became difficult. He was questioned by a guard captain who angrily reassigned him to another floor, and after an hour of pretending to be on patrol by mainly avoiding other guards, he found his way back to the stairwell that led down to the long hall, at the end of which Azula was kept. He still had the dubious master key Iroh had given from before, and the long walk in the damp and dark was the second longest he had taken in his life.

-She won't be there,- he thought. -They already had her moved.-

Azula lay on her side in the middle of the cell and did not stir when he opened the door. He crept over her and clamped his hand over her mouth to wake her. Her amber eyes shot open and fixated on him, but she did not scream or stir. "Slight change in plans. Put this on," he said, laying down the other guard uniform he had bundled inside his knapsack.

"Get me out of this jacket, dummy," she hissed.

Freeing her from the straight jacket took long enough for him to feel panic, but he eventually got her free. She wore a maroon shirt beneath the jacket, and her joints popped when she stretched. She was unable to stifle a low moan. "I hate that thing," she said. "That Bin had best hope I don't see her again."

"Forget her, just get dressed," Sokka said, stuffing the straight jacket into the knapsack.

"There will be quite an uproar when people learn I've disappeared," she said. "I wonder how dear Uncle plans to handle that?"

"You know him, he's wise," said Sokka. "Come on, we have to be quick."

"You're very trusting, you know? I imagine I could cause a fair bit of havoc to whatever plans you've got laid simply by taking off this helmet."

"And I can bop you on the head with my boomerang," he said. "Look, we'll have all the time in the world to say stupid stuff to each other later, okay?"

The haunted look she wore on her face said nothing about whether or not she planned treachery or had simply been needling him, and he had to take her nod and half smirk as agreement. Sokka turned his back on her and walked to the end of the long, dark hall to stop at the bottom of the stairs and listen. "I'll go up first and whistle if it's clear. The less people see us, or you, the better," he said.

At the top of the stairs he met the floor captain, a large, hairy man who needed to go up a size in armor. "Hey," he said. "Fuzo's supposed to be patrolling this end n' you ain't Fuzo."

Sokka's stammering was real, but his mind was able to concoct something automatically in spite of the surprise. "L-look, I was just doing the guy a favor, he's got this girl, and..."

"A girl!? Fuzo!? Ay, ay, ay, that guy...that guy...well stay here until he gets back. That might be all night if I catch the little creep foolin' around."

The big captain walked through a door, his sweaty shuffling becoming quieter and quieter. Sokka stepped quickly to scout out the immediate area and when he returned to the stairs Azula was at the top, her face pinched into a snarl.

"This is unbelievable," she hissed. "These are the bunglers I had guarding me? Any half-competent assassin would have had me easily."

"Take it up with Zuko, later," he said, failing to add that her incarceration had been for the protection of others and not so much her.

They were met by a sergeant at the gate to the asylum, who held a torch to their faces. "Fuzo, that you? Captain's mad, man."

"Nah," Sokka said. "He sent us to find Fuzo. Poor guy's in it deep."

"Well, if you see Fuzo, maybe forget you did, y'now?" said the sergeant.

"Yeah, yeah," said Sokka, eager to be away. Wrapped in the night air, he and Azula went to where he had hidden the ostrich horse and together they rode back to the city with her clinging to him. They met two soldiers on the way back, who flagged them down.

"She showed up for her shift with a fever, thought she could tough it out," Sokka said. "You know how women can be."

One, he saw, was a woman and for a moment he thought he had made quite an error but it seemed she understood and they passed without further questions.

"What did you mean by that?" Azula asked when they were away.

"Nothing, just sometimes I think girls push themselves too far. Like they think they have something to prove."

"You're an idiot," Azula said.

They stopped at the guardhouse, which remained empty save for one possibly drunk guard, and Sokka packed his blue tunic in with Azula's straight jacket before finding a piece of paper and a bit of charcoal.

He thought a moment while Azula huffed impatiently. "I'm eager to start enjoying my freedom," she said. "This slinking about is already becoming tiresome."

"Well, if we screw it up you'll be going right back into that cell. Probably a smaller one," Sokka said as he pondered how to word his letter so only its recipients would understand it.

Going to see Yue alone. Go ahead with the party.

Katara would get it, and while she would be furious at least she would know he had not been kidnapped or assassinated. Once the note was folded and tucked between his fingers, he led Azula past his quarters where he hoped Katara was sleeping and stuck the paper in the crack of the door.

Then he ran.

"Something tells me you're going off-script," Azula said when they were near the stables.

"My sister was going to come along, but I'd rather not have to play referee between the two of you," he said.

"I'm sure. You haven't told me where we're going yet, or how we're getting there," she said.

"We're going to take a ride on Appa. When I'm convinced you're in the right mood, I'll tell you where we're going."

"Afraid I'll ditch you and head wherever it is on my own?" she asked.

"Something like that," he said.

Hearing her light footsteps behind him, he was appreciative of just how agile she was. She was stiff from her confinement, but otherwise none the worse for wear. For Sokka, it felt like he owned a polar dog that wanted to run off and bite someone as soon as he stopped paying attention.

"Hey, is one of you Fuzo?" Sokka asked when they came to Appa's stall. The bison was sleeping and in front of him were three drowsy guards.

They looked up in silence and for a long moment none spoke, but then the middle one shook his head. "No, there's no Fuzo here."

"We'll he's gone AWOl, and the captain wants him found. We'll watch Ap-after the buffalo thingy."

"We don't know Fuzo, and we don't know you," said the middle one. "And our orders are to..."

"Your orders are to split up and find Fuzo!" Azula shouted, squaring her feet and planting one hand on her hip. "Now I suggest you get going or otherwise I'll be helping the sergeant figure out how much leave leave time to deduct based on how much nap time has been going out here. Go!"

Each man perked up and left at a brisk trot. Only the middle one muttered as he left. "If you truly believe you have authority, followers will sense it," she said when the men were gone.

Appa had woken up at her shouting and was grumbling. His rumble turned menacing when his nostrils pulled in the air around Azula, and Sokka patted his nose to calm him. "It's alright, buddy, she's with me. Ready to fly? Ready to help Aang?"

The grunt from the sky bison shook sawdust from the walls and Sokka cringed as he went and pulled the pins from the manacles that held four of the bison's six feet. Ropes had been run across his tail and these Sokka cut rather than waste time untying.

Sokka had feared the bison would not obey him and would fly off on his own in search of Aang. When he did not, Sokka saw he was truly lucky in that Appa's saddle had not been removed. "Come on, up the tail," he said to Azula, leading her to the saddle. "We'll have to stop for supplies somewhere, but we can do that in the morning."

"You didn't plan this well," she said. "No matter, I'm used to being denied meals."

He frowned. She could lie as easy as she breathed, but from what he had seen of the asylum, he could believe her. Sokka stooped under a rafter and settled onto the back of Appa's neck where he found the bison's reigns. "Yip-yip," he said as loud as he dared, and the bison bellowed his assent before trotting out of the stable and rising into the air.

The night sky was a canvass of lights marred by swaths of long, dark clouds. He took his helmet off and the cool air chilled the sweat on his temples and in his hair. He looked back to see Azula had taken off her helmet, too, and was letting the breeze blow back her tangled, black locks. She removed the chest-plate she wore, and while she did not seem keen to stand on the back of the flying bison just yet, she was up as high as her knees would allow with her arms out to catch more wind.

He found the sight of her wordless joy at being free unsettling, and so focused his attention in front of him. Sokka found the pole star and headed north. When Appa yielded to his commands he settled down into the thick fur after removing his own chest-plate and making it so he could reach the boomerang he had kept hidden.

"Now will you tell me where we're going?" Azula asked, having come to the front of Appa's saddle.

"The Northern Water Tribe," he said. "We'll talk later. You should get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," she said. "I trust this animal doesn't have fleas?"

"Not unless you give them to him," Sokka said.

Her long sigh was muffled by the breeze. "This brings back memories," she said.

"Not too many, I hope," he said, urging Appa to fly faster. The bison, like Azula, was eager to be free and he flew like a comet, swaying from side to side with the air currents and grunting happily. His memories were bubbling, too, only they were coming from different places and times. As Appa flew into the dark, northern sky, Sokka tried not to think too much about how Katara would react when she found his note.

-Just don't come back empty handed, that's all you gotta do,- he thought.

To be continued...


	5. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Sokka had been nodding off when Azula screamed.

The bison grunted and wavered, but Sokka kept him on course as he looked back for the source of her terror. She had fallen asleep in the middle of the saddle and now sat up, breathing fast and looking around in panic. Her fear turned to anger when she realized where she was and with a scowl she laid back down.

All through the night she had been sleeping fitfully, uttering half sentences and malformed words. She woke up screaming once more, but Sokka was no less alarmed by the noise. He did not ask if she was alright.

When the sun had warmed the right side of his face and he could smell the sea, Sokka bid Appa to fly higher. He had been half asleep while holding Appa's reins, but now it was time to find a place for the bison to rest. The sun was all the way up by the time Sokka spotted a likely place. It appeared as a horizontal line, dark against the vast glittering sheet of water.

He used his telescope to survey the island. It was a few miles long with a harbor on one end and a well-managed forest running its length.

Appa had not forgotten the old routine and flew low towards an empty-looking spot of land so as not to be noticed. Sokka did not think they had much to fear from anyone, but the Avatar's sky bison always attracted attention, something he thought should be avoided.

He heard Azula moving as they landed.

"Where are we?" she asked, a yawn in her voice. "I do hope you plan on getting food in the near future."

"We're on an island somewhere, and yes, we're getting food," he said, sliding off Appa's furry neck. Azula jumped to the ground next to him, and he led Appa up a hill to a small clearing that he had seen from the air. Appa began to chomp on the overgrown grass while Sokka patted his rearmost flank.

"Are you certain your buffalo won't fly off while we're gone?" Azula asked.

"One, he's a bison, and two, he knows the drill," said Sokka, opening his knapsack. He took out his blue tunic and tossed the sack to Azula. "Your prison clothes look a little less conspicuous than that uniform."

She went behind a tree to change while he traded the soldier's uniform he wore for the tunic. Azula threw the knapsack back at him when she reappeared. "So this is how it's going to work. I'm going to do all of the talking while you pretend to be deaf and dumb. Got it?" he said.

"I'll do no such thing," Azula said, and crossed her arms. The sunlight had given her a vitality and strength she had lacked during the night, but her skin was still pale and the rings under her blazing eyes were dark. He was about to rebut her, only she spoke first. "But, it might be convenient if the rabble did not know who I am, and since a royal upbringing can be hard to disguise I'll defer to you when it comes to speaking with dirty peasants."

"Great, I'm glad we agree on something," he said, and together they walked towards the village, following a dusty cart road that went by the clearing.

It was an Earth Kingdom village, that much he had deduced from the air, but a fair number of Fire Nation people were wandering about, mostly sailors and skilled laborers. Sokka noted each nationality kept to themselves mostly, but there was no tension or hostility between them he could sense.

The first thing he bought in the bustling market was another knapsack which he handed to Azula. He gravitated towards Earth Kingdom sellers, wanting to keep Azula away from anyone Fire Nation who might have seen her before. "I'm starving," she hissed into his ear after they had purchased vitals for the journey.

"Fine, fine," he said, and they went to the harbor where a few people had set up carts to cook and sell some of the early morning's catch. He brought her to an open grill where fish and squid were being roasted on sticks. "Which one do you want?"

"You can't be serious. This food is on a stick," she said.

The vendor was an old woman with her hair done into two tight, white buns. Her mouth was in constant motion but betrayed nothing but patience. Sokka smiled politely at her and spoke to Azula through gritted teeth. "All the food comes on sticks. You don't eat the stick," he said.

"I'm aware of that, fool," she said. "I don't know where the stick has been, I don't know where these people have been. I do not eat food on sticks. Find me something else."

Sokka looked at the morsels that had been set to the cooler side of the grill to be kept warm and asked the woman for two fish on a stick rather than two squid. She smiled, took his money, and plucked the fish up with a pair of tongs. Sokka took them, wrapped them in a clean cloth, and pulled the sticks out.

"See, stick free," he said, handing her the fish. Glaring at him, she took them.

He bought another fish from the woman, which he ate slowly some distance from Azula, who picked at and studied hers as she ate. "They didn't gut it properly," she said. "And there are bones. Best hope I don't choke."

"Just chew 'em real good and you'll be fine," he said.

"When will you be telling me your full game plan?" she asked. "What's in the Northern Water Tribe that we need?"

"Information," he said. "Whatever we're up against beat some powerful benders, and if we're going after them on their own turf we can't go into it blind."

Azula smirked, making it clear to him she had a dig to take at Toph, but she left it unsaid. "I'll admit, dear Zuzu isn't completely incompetent as a firebender, and your blind friend had some earthbending talent, as does the Avatar, but those girls with the painted faces are vastly overrated."

"Mai and Ty Lee are down there, too," he said.

A long pause. "Also overrated."

Sokka finished his fish and found a fire pit to toss the stick and bones in while Azula finished her own meal. As he digested the fish, he looked out over the water while using his peripheral vision to keep a tab on the people around them who were doing their best to not be caught staring. All except one person, a teenage boy. He was Earth Kingdom, dressed in rags that hung off his thin frame like wind-wrapped flags. His chin was small and receded and Sokka thought his eyes were entirely too far apart.

"You don't care much for your brother, do you?" Sokka asked, turning his attention back to Azula.

She threw the uneaten remains of her breakfast into the fire and scowled at him. "Zuzu is weak and always has been. The only reason he's made anything of himself is because I came along to push him. This mess he's left us all in is a fine example of his sentimentality run amok."

"Keep it down," Sokka said. "We're being watched."

"Watched? By who? We couldn't have been followed this quickly."

The frog-faced boy had slipped off into the fish market and now Sokka was focusing on everyone whose face he deemed even slightly froggy, although no one else seemed to possess the right set of features to arouse his concern.

-You're just on edge,- he told himself. -She's right, there's no way anyone is after us yet.-

"We'll talk about it when we're alone, but trust me we need to be careful."

She rolled her eyes as he led her from the harbor to a market for clothes where they walked between tables piled high with red, black, yellow, and green fabrics.

"You have to go farther north to find the really good furs, but these should be alright," Sokka said, gesturing towards racks of coats and tunics. "I recommend wearing layers."

"I recommend you keep quiet when it comes to how I should dress," Azula said in a tone that nearly sent a shopkeeper's assistant running. The girl had come over to help them and was about to ask if there was anything they were looking for in particular when she realized too late what Azula was. "Girl, assist me in finding suitable clothing for colder weather. This snow savage knows nothing about how to dress."

The girl nodded, her eyes flickering to Sokka for help. All she got was a frown and a shrug. Still, he followed close behind Azula and drew most of her unpleasantness away from the hapless girl by reminding the princess of his limited funds. "You get a heavy outfit and a light one," he said, finally. "And make it light blue. We don't want to stand out, even up there."

"T-thank you, sir," said the shop girl after a little over an hour had passed and the shopping was completed. Sokka ushered Azula away and turned back to the girl with a thankful smile which was returned.

"We should be heading back to Appa, I don't like leaving him alone for too long," said Sokka.

Before they left, however, he stopped at a general store where he bought a number of miscellaneous items that only time spent traveling could teach a person they needed; things such as ropes, rags, a cooking pan, fire starter, extra water skins, needle and thread, blankets, charcoal, and tongs.

Once this was done, he jiggled his coin purse to hear the sad, depleted sound it made and wondered if he should have gotten receipts or if Zuko would be good enough to take his word for it when it came time for reimbursement. It was a silly thought, but it meant seeing Zuko again and so he entertained it before and after his argument with Azula about how to carry the supplies. She favored any method that involved her carrying nothing, but in the end he convinced her to take the balance of what he could not, and slowly they made their way to the clearing where Appa had been left.

When he saw the bison was gone, he let the supplies fall to the ground while he groped at his temples.

"A predictable setback," chimed Azula. "Next time, I'll guard the buffalo while you secure the supplies."

"Stuff it," he said, looking around in the field for signs of what might have happened. He saw Appa's big, three-toed tracks and what looked to be boot prints within them. "Someone was here."

"They still are," said Azula, pointing to a group of five men who had come out of the woods.

They were dressed like Earth Kingdom peasants, but they all had the "Outer-Maw look" as Sokka thought of it. No beards, weak chins, bulging eyes too far apart, all capped by sloped foreheads and receding hairlines. He supposed they had more of a fishy aspect to them than a froggy one, but he could not shake the impression of amphibians and expected to hear them croak at any moment.

Sokka drew his boomerang while Azula dropped what she had been carrying. "Relatives of that boy in the fish market?" she asked.

He cast a sharp glance back at her to see her smiling at him. When she turned her attention to the men, she looked like a fire hawk that had sighted a juicy mouse. Her fists were clenched at her sides and her stance had widened. -Never thought I'd be happy to see her like that,- he thought.

"Hey!" He shouted at the men, three of whom had daggers while two carried clubs. "What did you do with Appa? Don't make me beat it out of one of you."

"Yer buffurlo flew off like a chikin'," said one. "We'll ketch 'im n' we'll eat 'im. Mebbe eat yew, too."

They came running clumsily on bowed legs, and Sokka danced back to let the firebender make the first move, which was to throw a sweeping arc of blue flame that went over the grass like a scythe to hit four men in the chest and knock them over. The one that had the sense to duck in time did not stop, and Sokka hit him in the side of the neck with his boomerang, knocking him down.

Azula sprinted towards the fallen men and used her bending to propel herself into the air, from where she shot jets of blue fire from her fists. Her blue flames burned much hotter than a normal firebender's orange ones, and Sokka hated to see the effect on the downed men, even if they were enemies. Two did not rise after her onslaught, while the remaining pair rose and tore off their burning shirts while they ran into the woods.

"Was that necessary?" he asked, looking at the two smoking piles on the ground.

"Was it deserved is a better question," she said. "Anyone who attacks me with a blade has to expect such treatment."

"Yeah, well..." Sokka did not feel like this was a battle he cared to fight with her, and seeing Appa's shape circling in the sky above gave him something else to think about. He waved Appa down, and he landed just as the man Sokka had hit was coming to. "Grab him," Sokka said. "Don't hurt him."

Azula bristled at the command but followed it, at least in spirit, as she plucked up the man's knife, rolled him onto his back with her foot, then placed her knee down hard on his chest making him cough. "Struggle and I'll fillet you," she said.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked, coming over. "What do you want with us?"

The man's froggy features were less pronounced than they had been in his fellows and Sokka noted he was not sweating, despite his heavy breathing and the warm air. "I ain't tellin'. Y'all best be lettin' things be is all I'll say. Cut your losses n' such. Won't matter anyway. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

Azula screamed and planted the dagger into the man's chest before Sokka could react. He shoved her off the man and knelt over him to try and stem the bleeding, but the man's pale, flabby hands yanked the blade out as he shouted another chorus of "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!"

Sokka jumped back and watched the dying man flounder, repeating his strange chant through a bloody mouth before dying.

Azula dusted herself off and readied herself for more combat with him, but Sokka tucked his boomerang into his belt and glared at her. She scowled, but did not attack. "Let's go, before those two I wounded make trouble for us."

He was speechless, but eventually was able to tell her to help him move the bodies into the woods. When this was done he loaded their supplies onto Appa while Azula did her best to incinerate the three corpses.

When Appa was in the air and over the water Sokka resumed his search for a place to land. His plan had been to rest for much of the day, but the attack had changed that. He looked back at Azula to see her sitting calmly in the rear of the saddle, irritated as though she had been forced into some chore.

He replayed the events in the clearing over and over again as they flew. They were clearly the same variety of men who had tried to kill him before, but how had they known where he'd be? Was Katara safe? These were questions he had hoped to get answers for until the man had said those words.

Sokka noted it had been the strange word, "Cthulhu" that set Azula off, something he intended to ask her about soon, for he had sighted a small, thickly wooded island devoid of any signs of habitation. An ideal spot to rest, he guided Appa down among the trees.

"Why are we stopping here?" Azula asked.

"Because Appa isn't an airship, he needs food and rest. We also need to have a little talk."

"Spare me your lectures. Anyone saying that name in that chant deserves to be exterminated."

"Name? See, that's what I mean. You know a lot more than you're letting on, and I need to know all of it."

"You want information from me? Let's trade. You first," she said, crossing her arms and turning up her chin.

They disembarked from Appa's saddle and left him to much on some low-growing shrubs as he trampled down a place to rest. Sokka found a dry, rotten log to sit upon while Azula paced before him, as domineering as she was restless.

"You remember Hoplo's journal? The one I found in the cave that had the map that led us out?" Sokka asked.

"Yes," she said. "As I recall, it contained a wealth of unpleasant information, some of it useful."

"A lot of it was useful. A lot of it didn't make any sense, and I didn't like having it around after I got back to the real world. I was thinking about burning it, but I decided I'd send it to the Northern Water Tribe instead."

Her laugh was curt and she tossed a strand of black hair from her face with a flip of her head. "It sounds like you just needed a pretext to get me away from the Fire Nation so I wouldn't get the throne while Zuzu is on vacation," she said. "Even if that's not the case, I hope you've got something better up your sleeve than that silly little journal."

It was his turn to laugh snidely. "Call it silly all you want, but here's the thing, in it Hoplo mentioned other weird writings and scrolls that seemed like they had something to do with the kooky stuff we ran into down there. I'm betting these books, or whatever, are in the library at the Northern Water Tribe's capital, and I'll bet even more there's people who've read them that we can talk to."

She pursed her lips, and considered him for a brief moment. He readied himself for a retort. "I'm impressed. That actually makes sense," she said.

He detected contempt in her tone, but she offered no other argument, just questions. "So, who was it that attacked us and how do they know that awful chant?"

Sokka squinted at her, feeling like he was playing Pai Sho with Iroh, whose favorite tactic was to make an odd move, then watch Sokka with a smile on his face while the young player doomed himself.

"Back in the Fire Nation, I was attacked by two guys," he said, and related the rest of the incident, including the name of the town where they were thought to be from.

"Outer-Maw. I should have known. They all had the look," Azula said.

Sokka blinked in surprise. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed. But the other guys were all Earth Kingdom and they're pretty far from Outer-Maw, right."

"Correct, that doesn't make sense," Azula said, her eyes narrowing as the breeze tousled loose strands of her dark hair which she she had tied into a tucked ponytail.

"No, it doesn't. Neither does you freaking out and stabbing a guy because of some weird nonsense he said. What was that all about?"

She turned away from the sea, and watched Appa sleeping. The bison was snoring in time with the lapping waves, and Sokka felt like he would need a nap himself soon, but dreaded being out while Azula was awake.

"I suppose you know by now I don't sleep very well. It's been like that since the south pole, after that blob-creature tried to absorb me."

"I remember," he said.

It had happened while he was separated from her in the ancient city. When he found her, she was naked in a dark, stone room that had been charred by her flames. The incident had led to her being unable to firebend for a time, for the thing that tried to seep into her and eat her mind had left some of itself there before she destroyed it. She had been able to access some of the creature's knowledge, and it had nearly driven her mad and doomed them both. Azula had been able to cope with it then, but it seemed to Sokka that over time it had become like an infected boil, leaking and threatening burst if picked at.

Her arms were locked across her chest, her hands nervously moving along her biceps as she continued. "It got worse after I came back. It was like I was never alone anymore. It would make me see things that weren't there, people started calling me mad behind my back. After Zuzu and your sister took advantage of my handicap, they shut me up in a cell and left me alone with it. That wretched Bin thought moving me to darker and darker places would somehow help, but it didn't. I lost track of time, and at some point the dreams took on a different character."

When her voice cracked, she dropped her pretenses and covered her face. Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but decided to keep quiet.

"I dreamed of a city," she continued. "A massive city, nothing like the one we saw with the domes under the pole. This one had twisting streets, high towers, buildings, none designed for people like me, or even you. Everything was black, greenish stone, everything covered in seaweed and coral. I always heard chanting. It was in some kind of strange language, and I listened so long somehow I knew what it meant. 'In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.'"

She said "Cthulhu" like a filthy word, which Sokka agreed that it was.

"There's that 'Cthulhu,' word," he said. "What does that weird little battle-cry of theirs mean?"

"'Yes, yes, Cthulhu dreams,' or something like that, I'm not sure. I don't know, but I know, and I don't know how I know. I sound insane!" she shouted, and began hurling fire angrily towards the sea, scorching some of the grass and shrubs between them and the sandy rocks. Appa grunted at the commotion, but remained snoozing.

"Easy, easy!" Sokka said, getting to his feet. "Calm down, you don't have to talk about it anymore. You're not the only to have weird, dreamy head problems. I had some pretty weird ones after that thing on the beach got me."

"Oh?" she said, turning one, blazing amber eye on him.

He told her about his dream, and rather than mock how tame it sounded she sat down on the ground near him, intrigued.

"One of the weird things you said back at the south pole when you were messed up was that the starfish-headed things created the blob monsters," Sokka said. "That's why I wanted to know about your dreams. The city you mentioned, you drew it on the wall of your cell?"

She picked her head up and keeping the lower half of her face hidden, looked at him with wide, amber eyes through wisps of black hair.

"And that thing with the tentacles above it was Cthulhu I'm guessing?"

"Cthulhu, in his house at R'lyeh, where my brother and your friends most likely are right now," she said, not sounding pleased.

That she was not gleeful over the notion disturbed him more than anything, and it made him hate the sound of lapping waves nearby, along with the smell of seawater a cool breeze carried. "That's just great," he said, groaning. He wished his mind would stop moving the pieces of this puzzle around, for the picture coming together was not something he wanted finished.

"There's no escape," Azula said.

"What?" How long had they sat in silence?

"There's no running from this," she said. "You were right about what you said to me before. I could go back to the Fire Nation and take my rightful place on the throne, and there I'd sit until that thing at R'lyeh decides otherwise. I'm tempted to think that would be a long time. You know these things measure centuries like we measure weeks, but something tells me it's waited as long as it cares to, and nothing is going to stop it."

He rubbed his forehead and felt thick, cold sweat. They were making a lot of assumptions, he thought, and in his mind two big puzzle pieces, the starfish-headed things and Cthulhu, were not fitting together quite right.

"Nothing can stop it, huh? Then why are bug-eyed weirdos trying to kill us? Why was Aang kidnapped? Why were the others taken?"

"Who knows? I just know that thing at R'lyeh is behind it all and whatever it is, it's beyond anything we can throw at it."

Sokka covered his mouth with his hand, and studied her. There was a slump in her shoulders put there likely by fatigue and it saddened him. "How's your leg?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow along with her head and regarded him with suspicion. "It aches in wet weather, but it's as good as ever," she said.

"Is there a scar?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Can I see it?"

"Certainly not!"

"Come on, I'm making a point here."

Her brow furrowed, but she slowly lifted her pant leg to reveal a discoloration on the shin. Sokka remembered seeing the white bone, and the blood, and monitoring it for infection for days on end. "Nice," he said. "How doomed were we back then? A thousand miles from nowhere, nothing but snow and cold, and you with a broken leg. And that was before we traded the cold for blob monsters."

She slid her pant leg back down and frowned. "Very inspirational, but I think you'll soon learn things are worse now."

Sokka was tired, but he could see some rigidness had returned to her posture. She would carry on to argue with him, it seemed. "Fair enough. I'm going to catch some Zs. Make sure nothing kills me, okay?"

He reached for a bedroll and being too sleepy to unfurl it, used it as a pillow while he slipped down next to the log and hoped no bizarre dreams would come to confuse him further.

-888-

He was less upset this time on finding himself in the body of one of the starfish-headed creatures, but his surroundings were more disorienting than they had been before. He was surrounded by darkness, only he could sense through some unknown means the area around him.

The air was impossibly thick, and he soon realized it was not air, but water. It carried vibrations better, and using them he could sense his fellows nearby. They were speaking in vibrations, but what they were saying he did not know; he only had the sense that the conversation was somehow technical in nature.

His mind bristled when he sensed the presence of something large approaching. It was a blob-creature, one of the things he had encountered before in his human body in what he wanted to say was the past. The starfish-headed things did not flee or otherwise react, but Sokka felt himself move closer to the blob and began to vibrate. The blob vibrated back then moved away in the fashion of a jellyfish.

Sokka felt himself vibrating angrily, which made the others go quiet. He calmed, and suddenly their strange, collective chatter slowly picked back up. Above them, something massive cruised by at a fantastic speed, gone as soon as it was sensed.

The vibrating started again. Sokka tried to move, but found that like before he was along for the ride. When it stopped, and Sokka relaxed he found himself able to sense more and he determined he and his fellows were discussing some kind of problem, one that they felt they could solve, but for the moment was baffling them.

What the problem was he never learned, for the giant, dark shape returned with the suddenness of a rock slide and all went dark.

-888

Something massive and black was looming over his face. Sokka shrunk from it in terror until he felt the hot breath from Appa's wet nose.

"Morning, big guy," he said, patting the bison.

"Try afternoon," said Azula, her voice prickling him awake. "If I'd known you were going to sleep all day, I would have said do it on the back of the buffalo."

"Bison, he's a bison, not a buffalo," said Sokka, sitting up and stretching, expecting to find himself bound hand and foot, but he was free.

"Is there a difference?" asked Azula.

"Thick fur, small-ish horns...uh...he flies...has six legs...sky buffalo just sounds stupid, okay?"

Azula was sitting amongst some tall grass and holding up her finger, which held a blue flame. She was watching small insects circle it. "I suppose that's true," she said, flicking her wrist and dousing her flame. "I say we leave now. I'm growing bored here, and prefer the view from up there."

"Right away, princess," he said, shaking his head to clear the sleep from it. He took his time loading Appa's saddle, goading Azula into helping through her impatience.

"Ugh. We couldn't have abducted at least one servant? She'd technically have to do whatever I said, you know," said Azula as she carried her half of their supplies.

"I'd rather take care of myself, actually," said Sokka.

"As if you had a choice," she said, seating herself at the front of Appa's saddle while he rested behind the bison's neck and took the reins. "I'll confess, while it's no dragon, you're flying sky-beast is much more fun to ride than an airship."

"You've ridden a dragon?" Sokka said, before jostling the reins and shouting "Yip-yip!"

Appa rose into the air almost vertically and turned himself north. Sokka thought they would be flying over a long stretch of Earth Kingdom soon, then the arctic sea where he would look for a long strip of white to follow east in search of the Northern Water Tribe's capital.

"A dragon? No, of course not," Azula said, their conversation having been suspended while Appa rose. "I always wanted to, though."

"I heard your people hunted them to extinction," said Sokka.

"My uncle killed the last ones. Hard to believe considering the man he is now."

"You can say that again," Sokka said.

"Just how does he plan to keep the peace in the Fire Nation with me disappearing?" she asked. He could sense she was leaning over the saddle, probably doing her best to look casual even though no one could see her.

-What's the harm in telling her?- he thought, and pursed his lips knowing the question answered itself. "He said this way was best, that's all I know."

She laughed, high and healthy with delight. "We're going to have a lot of fun on this trip, I can tell. Well, if you won't come clean on your political machinations, do tell me what had you so upset while you were sleeping."

Sokka pursed his lips again but felt like water was being forced out his mouth. When it came to this, their secret, there was no stopping it. Azula was the only person he could share it with, after all. He told her about his dream in as much detail as he could, even as it faded from his memory.

"You sleep better than me," she said, and her hand fell on his shoulder.

He almost leaped off Appa, but once he realized he was not being attacked he settled down while Appa offered up an annoyed grunt. "Something wrong?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't touch me, ever," he said. "Okay, so we helped each other out once and we're helping each other now. Fine, great, but a lot happened after that and I don't trust you at all. Got it?"

"No, I don't get it," she said, sounding genuinely put out. "If you don't trust me why am I here?"

"You're here because I don't trust you to be somewhere else," he said. "Just go organize our supplies. And bring me a map." He hoped his commands would annoy her, get her talking about how he was a peasant and had no right to speak to her so.

"Fine," she said. "I don't much care if you trust me or not, but it wouldn't be wise to hold back when it comes to our...private matters. We need to pool our information, otherwise we really don't stand a chance."

"Gotcha," he said, wishing she would stop talking or say something ugly. When he heard her doing as he asked and felt the rolled up map tap him on the shoulder, he thanked her then listened to the clink and rustle of their gear being sorted as Appa cruised over warm, glittering water.

To be continued...


	6. Nekka

When Sokka finally saw the long, icy coastline of the Northern Water Tribe he kept Appa on course, wanting to be closer before striking east towards the capital. He and Azula had donned their thick clothes at their last stop, and atop Appa's warm back they were well protected from the biting winds of the northern sky. The only trouble for them was their respective dreams. Sokka's did not disturb his rest, but the dim memory of them consumed his waking hours; as did Azula's somnambulant screams and utterances.

She slept easier in the daylight and they adjusted their schedules accordingly. One evening, before he went to sleep, Sokka got curious. "So, do you dream about Cthu..."

"Don't say it!" she had snapped. "Unless you have to, don't ever say that name."

Sokka had the childish urge to make it a regular part of his vocabulary for her benefit, but he agreed with her. He wondered if she simply did not like the sound of it or if she thought it held some mystical power by being uttered. He hoped desperately that there was a man with a long white beard in the Northern Water Tribe who had been studying these things in obscurity his entire life and would be eager to talk.

For a moment he wondered if he would see Master Pakku, but remembered the man was in the Southern Water Tribe. That was probably for the best, he decided, even though it would be nice to see a somewhat friendly face in the lonely north.

As the icy stretch of land loomed closer, Sokka thought of Yue to insulate his spirit from the cold wind that was blistering it. His time with her had been brief and it was not enough to ward off the thought of how long Suki, Aang, Toph, and the others had been missing. Sokka could not help but wonder what he would do if the Northern Water Tribe held nothing for him. Going back to the Fire Nation now would mean spilling himself before the people he had lied to and to make it worse he would have Azula with him, a physical embodiment of his betrayal.

He suddenly got the impression she was watching him, and so he turned his head sharply hoping to catch her in the act. She was looking over Appa's flank to the south. He wondered if she missed her home, but thought it more likely she missed being in charge of everyone. Maybe both.

"What are you staring at?" she asked, one of her amber eyes having caught him.

Sokka, startled, looked back over Appa's furry, round head. "Nothing," he said. "We should get there in another day tops, in case you were wondering."

They flew in silence for a while longer, and as twilight started to show itself in the east and Appa's tiny shadow on the water became elongated, Sokka began to look for an island or iceberg to settle down on. Appa seemed up to the task of flying for many more hours, but Sokka did not wish to search for land on a tired bison at night, nor did he wish to put down on the mainland just yet. Given their last unexpected encounter with strange frog-faced men, some isolation was best.

"Over there," Azula said. Sokka looked and saw nothing but bruise-colored water. He told her as much. "No, look at the sky, dummy."

There were several black shapes winding their way in the wind like snakes through grass. Before he could say, "Flying snakes?" they were close enough for him to see the truth. His throat went dry, and he croaked, "Appa! Yip-yip!" while gripping the bison's reins.

Appa's legs shifted and his large body narrowed to better pass through the air. Sokka fumbled for the small telescope he kept in his tunic and tried to get a better look at the winding, gliding things. Flat bodies and claws were all he could make out.

"I'll deal with this, Boomerang Boy, you just keep the buffalo on course," shouted Azula.

"Boomerang Boy!? And he's a bison!"

He had his boomerang free, but had no plans to throw it at anything while over the ocean. The memory of his lost space sword hurtling towards the ground over the Earth Kingdom was still a painful one and it was only now he realized he had not packed his war club.

Appa could not out-fly the things as they cruised and swooped, treating the laws of aerodynamics as a formality. Sokka tried to make sense of them by drawing analogies like centipede, tapeworm, and bat, but nothing truly fit.

Blue streaks of energy suddenly cut through the air. The bright arcs happily danced through one of the creatures and jumped to another flying close by, causing it to twitch but not fall. The one Azula had hit with her lightning dropped, leaving streaks of black smoke as the others surrounded Appa.

Sokka ducked to avoid the lightning and blue fire that filled the air. Two of the things landed on either side of him and he almost jumped from Appa's back to escape.

When one tried to envelope him, Sokka overcame the urge to implode with revulsion and ducked, shoving the monster into the other only to have a third come from behind and catch him. "Hey!" he shouted, wrapped in its patagia and feeling hundreds of hooks and claws digging into his back. He was lifted lifted upward somehow, his struggles only driving the sharp hooks and teeth in deeper into his skin.

"Let me go! Let me go!" he shouted until he saw he was now a few thousand feet above the icy sea with no Appa beneath him. "Don't let me go! Put me back, then let me go!"

He was trying to twist around to see if Appa was coming to save him when something hot struck the creature. Stunned, Sokka realized he was falling. He clutched his boomerang tight and hoped what he had heard about water surface tension had been exaggerated.

The air was suddenly knocked from his lungs and his boomerang went sliding across Appa's saddle. The bison had come through for him, much to his sudden elation. Coughing, he rose to his knees and reached for it, only to have Azula's boot come down lightly on his hand, pinning it. She stood over him, blue flames in both palms with a grin on her face. "No need, I got them all," she said, taking her foot off him and letting her flames die.

"What were those things?" Sokka asked, shaking himself violently to be rid of the creeping sensation he felt before he took Appa's reins and steering him back towards the northern coast.

"I have no idea, but I bet I know who sent them," she said. "I was expecting minions less...pitiful."

"Yeah, pitiful if you can shoot lightning. You got them all, I hope?"

She took a moment to respond. "One may have slipped away."

"Great, now they'll know to bring more next time."

"Then we'd best get where we're going that much faster," she said, her voice like a whip. "Don't assume there aren't more nearby."

"I won't," he said, a sudden giddiness overtaking him.

"What's the matter with you? If that thing had flown a few more feet it would have been out of my range and you'd be doomed or worse."

"Yeah, that's freaky, but don't you see? They've stepped up their game. They really don't want us going to the Northern Water Tribe."

Her overly derisive snort betrayed her. "You think this is evidence that there's something there? Perhaps they're just vindictive."

In response Sokka mumbled something she could not hear and went back to guiding Appa, although the bison needed little help. He remembered the Water Tribe capital and how to get there, even if they were approaching from a different angle than their first visit years before. He encouraged Appa to fly low in the hope they would be hard to see by any more flying monsters, but he kept a watch to the south all the same.

-888-

The walls of the Northern Water Tribe capital glowed a soft blue in the starlight. Sokka tugged Appa's reins, making him veer towards the top of the ice wall that surrounded the city on every side but the sea. The guards at their posts scurried into action, but calmed down once they realized it was the Avatar's bison descending.

"Hey!" said one of the guards as Sokka slid from Appa's neck to the ground. "You're Sokka, right? The boomerang guy?"

"The one and only," he replied as Azula landed behind him. "Sorry we didn't send word ahead, but I was hoping Chief Arnook would let us crash here for a while?"

"We'll ask, but I don't see why he wouldn't," said the guard. "Step this way and we'll get everything sorted out."

The guard and his fellows were baldly curious about where the Avatar was, but none of them actually said anything about it as they led Sokka and Azula down a set of stone steps and through a maze of long, square hallways, mostly built from ice and stone. Azula walked behind him with her hood up and was attracting stares from the few guards they passed.

Their destination was a tiered building atop a long flight of steps that overlooked the entire city which Sokka could not help but glance back at. The ice covered walls sucked up the light from the stars and sliver of moon and reflected it, making it so there was almost no need for sidewalk lamps save for the lower streets where shadows lived in patches.

Sokka looked up at the moon, the only familiar and friendly face he expected to see aside from perhaps Chief Arnook.

"Watch where you're going," whispered Azula. "You didn't tell me everything here was made from ice. It's a wonder anyone in this country can even walk."

"The waterbenders make it so it's rough and easy to walk on," said one of the guards. "First time to the Northern Water Tribe?"

"She had a bad fall a few years ago and she's paranoid. Women, you know?" said Sokka, not wanting Azula to speak if she did not have to. As predicted the guard laughed and nodded. Sokka thought Azula's glare alone would cause the ice to melt, but she kept silent and soon they were inside the dimly lit temple. A middle-aged woman, who introduced herself as the temple's majordomo, greeted them happily, but with some confusion.

"You must be Sokka," she said. "I remember you. Is the Avatar...?"

"It's just us. We're on a mission for him, very urgent. I was wondering if I could talk to Chief Arnook. Uh...tomorrow morning would be alright, but early, if that's okay."

"He may still be awake now, actually," the woman said. "Since the Battle of the North Pole he's taken to moon-gazing. I'm sure you understand."

Sokka did, more so than he cared to let on. The majordomo left them to wait in the company of two guards. "Perhaps they think I'm your sister," Azula said, standing close and whispering into his ear.

"Not likely. She made a pretty big impression on everyone here, they'd remember her pretty well."

Arnook entered with the majordomo following behind him. His long face had more creases than the last time Sokka had seen him and his black hair sported some gray near the roots.

"Greetings, Sokka," Arnook said, holding out his arms. The two exchanged a friendly greeting and Arnook dipped his head towards Azula. "It's been too long. Ralla here tells me you're on a mission from Avatar Aang?"

"Yeah. It's kinda secret though, so..."

"Oh? I see," said Arnook, rubbing his chin. "Who is your friend?"

"Oh, this is..."

Azula grabbed his arm and pressed herself against him. "Mai Lee. He's my boyfriend."

"Oh, a Fire Nation girl," said Arnook, his brow furrowing while Sokka's stomach and head tried to change places. "I assume you plan to stay awhile, so I'll have a room prepared, your bison cared for, and your things stored." As he spoke, the two guards and Ralla left. Arnook led Sokka and Azula up a set of stairs where a raised platform serves as his throne. Beneath it were fur and cushion covered benches and seats, which he bid his guests to sit on. Arnook himself chose to sit at the foot of his throne, owing to the informal circumstances.

"Can you tell me anything about why the Avatar has sent you?" he asked.

Sokka cleared his throat, still trying to settle from Azula's impromptu proclamation. "Well, you might remember I had a book sent to you a few years ago. It was pretty old, so I figured you'd give it to the library. I need it back and I need to talk to some smart guys about it.

"Smart guys?"

Azula coughed and let down her hood as she shifted in her seat to be closer to the chief. "The book he's talking about was a journal. It detailed a subject of interest to the Avatar and we would like to recover it as well as speak with any scholars who might be knowledgeable on what it contains," she said.

"And what subject matter would that be?" asked Arnook, leaning forward.

"It involves an ancient form of bending. The Avatar used it to defeat the Fire Lord, and would like to expand his knowledge of it. He feels it has great potential," said Azula.

"Does he now? Well, I do remember getting the book, and I did pass it along to the librarians at the Great Library. We call it a library, but it's more of a school. It's not as large as the University of Ba Sing Se, but we boast a more...esoteric collection. At least I'm told. I'll confess I never had much to do with book learning, not that I don't respect it."

"Then we would only ask permission to stay in your fair city and have access to the library," said Azula.

"I'll instruct the scholars there to make time for you, but you'll be under their rules and schedule," he said, his dark face wrinkling. When they nodded, he smiled. "Had you sent word ahead we would have had dinner put out for you. I'll personally escort you to your room. It's late, but I find a walk puts me in the mood for sleep."

Sokka thanked Arnook profusely until Azula nudged him. Quietly, he thanked the universe for not throwing more obstacles at them.

Arnook took them out of the throne room where they found Ralla, and went to a dome-shaped building overlooking the sea. It was a guest house for royals, but given how isolated the Northern Water Tribe had been for so many years it was rarely used, according to Chief Arnook.

Inside was some of their gear and a few items of furniture. One bed, Sokka noted, as Arnook and Ralla bid them good evening and told them to come to the high chamber when they were ready to visit the library in the morning.

"I'll stone, knife, scroll you for the bed," said Sokka when he and Azula were alone. The bed looked inviting in the gloom and was covered briefly in a blue hue as Azula's fire ignited a lamp, which then burned a natural yellow.

Azula removed her coat and boots, then laid down on the bed. "We're both adults," she said. "Lay down and go to sleep."

He removed his boots and heavy coat and laid down as far from her as he could get, not wishing to spend a night on the hard floor or on a bedroll if he did not have to, even if it meant sleeping next to Azula.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend, huh?"

"It made more sense than brother and sister," she said, as she tossed and turned. "Besides, I've heard a thing or two about this place and I figured they would pay me less notice if they thought I was attached to you somehow."

Sokka made a noncommittal sound. She was right, but now his cheek where she had kissed him years before burned. He had felt it for much longer than the wound she put on his neck, which had left a small scar.

"You're dying to talk about how I said goodbye to you at the south pole, aren't you?" she said, freezing him where he lay. Could her brain problems have given her the ability to read minds? How long had he been touching his face?

"Actually, I don't think much about it," he said.

"Liar," she said. "I assumed boys liked being thanked by girls with kisses, but I also didn't want you thinking we were friends."

"Oh, I understood you perfectly, and if I didn't then you made it pretty clear afterward."

"Good, and since that was all years ago, why don't we call a truce here and now."

His eyes had closed and he felt heavy all over, too heavy to verbally spar with her now. "Yeah, sure, truce," he said.

She sighed and turned on the bed causing it to shake. "That's not good enough. I want it understood that I'm not planning some betrayal. We have a common enemy, one that has to be beaten before anyone can have what they want. I wouldn't risk defeat by stabbing you in the back."

He rolled over to face her. A vast expanse of seal fur lay between them, and he grinned. "It's cool you suddenly think we can win, but what you really mean by truce is you want me to trust you, right?"

"Yes," she said, preparing herself for his counter blow.

"Well, here it is. I trust you won't kill me in my sleep. I trust you won't run off in the night. I trust that you'll be helpful and quiet, all while looking for some kind of opening or opportunity where you can come out on top in the end. I trust you to be you, Princess Azula."

Her look soured and while he just wanted to sleep he could not resist going further. "See, trust is a lot like a flower," he said, having fun now. "You can plant the seed, give it good soil, but only time can make it grow."

She took his smarmyness more gracefully than he had hoped. "If you act right and don't try to screw me over, I'll start to trust you," he continued. "And when the flower of trust blooms between us I won't forget that it's still a cobra lily and could kill me if I let my guard down. How's that for a trusting truce?"

"You're a jerk," she said, and rolled over.

Grinning silently he rolled onto his back. The stillness of the night had a sound to it, the blood in his ears pulsing with the tides and the distant, lapping of the cold sea. It was a quiet night in the Northern Water Tribe's capital, but Sokka thought he could hear violin music. It was a familiar, haunting tune that left him uneasy but tired.

As sleep came, Sokka reminded himself that Azula was as talented a liar and manipulator as she was a firebender, for he did indeed feel like a jerk.

-888-

Sokka was back in the strange body he did not control or understand. Before him were black, oozing shapes seeping between massive stone blocks, moving them according to some direction Sokka felt he had given. It was dark where he was and the pressure around him enormous. The oozing masses before him had minds like their bodies, pliant, malleable, yet stalwart when set to a task. He could feel another presence close by, perhaps in the same body he now occupied. They were separated by a membrane, one he could pushed against but could not break. He hated the feeling and struggled to be free, only it was like trying to tear a thought from his head. Sokka was formless, yet rooted to where he was.

The ooze before him was vibrating, the blocks were sliding. He felt himself vibrate louder, trying to cow the ooze into compliance. When he began to spin and rise upward, he thrashed about in another bid for freedom but found only inky blackness.

-888-

Azula was shaking him. "Up, fool, before something tries to thwart us again," she said.

She was standing next to the bed dressed in a blue tunic. Her hair had been combed and she wore it in high knot, pinned with a blue ornament that made her look strange to him, and hopefully unrecognizable to anyone in the Northern Water Tribe who might take issue with Princess Azula wandering the streets.

Azula had done her best to make herself look good, but the asylum years clung to her like mold and she had not slept well.

"Let's get some breakfast, first. I don't feel like searching for ancient, forbidden knowledge on an empty stomach," he said.

"Nor do I," she said to his surprise. They went to the large dining room where he, his sister, and Aang had once eaten. The décor had been changed since then, but the nostalgic feeling the room created was distracting as he ate his tiger seal steaks and spiced blubber cubes.

"You know, had we conquered this place the food certainly would have improved," said Azula, shoveling her blubber chunks onto Sokka's plate. He narrowed his eyes, but ate them all the same.

"This is spiced blubber, you can't get this in the Southern Water Tribe," he said.

"I'm glad to hear it's isolated," she said. "If you're done, let's find that irritating handmaiden and have her show us the library."

She pushed her plate away and stood, leaving Sokka to scarf as much blubber as he could and skewer a few cubes on sticks so he could snack on them while walking. They found Ralla easily and she greeted Sokka warmly while being polite to Azula.

The Great Library, as it was locally known, was far from the water, past a series of canals and icy walkways, and nestled between two glacial walls. Its entrance was a giant archway set into the ice wall after a series of stone steps. Sokka looked up as they went under to see a balcony ran along the top and disappeared into the glacier.

Inside, the air was cool and dry to the point where Sokka felt his skin itch.

"Many of the books and scrolls kept here are on paper, of course, so to prevent them from decaying we keep the moisture in this building to a minimum. I'm told that centuries ago, airbenders would sometimes assist us in removing the oxygen from a room completely where particularly valuable collections were stored. These days many of the scribes spend their days copying old texts onto newer, more durable materials," said Ralla as she took on the air of a tour guide, strolling ahead of them and making sweeping gestures with her arms.

"Fascinating," Azula said, her voice as dry as the air.

Past another door they came to a room that made Sokka feel like he was truly in a library. There was a stone desk, behind which stood many books, and behind that a large set of stairs leading up into shadows. A long hall stretched away from them in both directions, it too lined with books. People in blue robes and tunics moved about, barely looking up from their work to look at the newcomers.

Ralla went up to a counter where a man stood preoccupied with a list. His massive egg-shaped head rested above slouched shoulders, and he was constantly moving his long, white beard out of his way.

He squinted at Ralla and peered closer, recognizing her when he was inches away. "Oh, are they here already?" he said, his voice like dry paper.

Ralla nodded patiently and made a sweeping gesture towards her charges. "Misso, this is Sokka, and his lady friend, Mai Lee," she said.

As they exchanged formalities, Sokka and Azula learned they had to strain their ears to hear Misso's voice in the echo-proof rooms of the Great Library. He was excited to see them, and Sokka became oddly anxious when he realized the old man knew exactly what Hoplo's journal was all about.

"I only recently had a chance to examine it," Misso said, coming around the counter and attracting looks from other scholars who rarely saw him excited about anything. "Chief Arnook had it sent here long ago as I'm sure you're aware, and I would have seen to it then, but an earthquake damaged several deep storage chambers and that absorbed so much of my time it seems I forgot all about the journal. I feel so foolish, especially given its contents! To think, the lost expedition..."

Azula cleared her throat loudly. "Perhaps we could speak of this in private?"

Misso looked confused for a moment, but then his eyes widened. "Oh, yes, yes, of course, how foolish of me," he said. "Right this way, young ones."

They soon found themselves upstairs in a small room where Misso kept hundreds of scrolls piled around a desk. "Ralla, could you please send for Nekka?" asked Misso, before the majordomo had left.

When they were alone, Misso doddered around to sit at his desk where he located a pair of spectacles. "I must say, you can't know how disturbing it was to read that journal. At the very least, it's the product of a broken mind. At worst...the implications are profound when taken in context."

"Well, you see..."

"Must we keep reminding you people that our mission is a secret one, on behalf of the Avatar himself?" said Azula, cutting Sokka off. "Where it was found is none of your concern. I take it you read the entire thing?"

"Of course," said Misso, his words becoming easier to understand the more comfortable he became. "And I'll dare say that I know more about what was written in it than you do, young lady."

"Oh, I doubt that very much," said Azula.

Rather than take offense Misso chewed thoughtfully on his lip as he studied them. "Forgive me for pointing this out, but in my years here I've seen faces like yours. They belonged to young, foolish scholars who delved into ancient knowledge they later came to regret delving into."

"What of it?" said Azula, prompting Sokka to nudge her with his foot.

"I meant no offense, but since I know a great deal about things you likely only having a passing familiarity with, I'd advise you to stop being so hostile. 'Lose the attitude,' is the popular phrase for it these days, I believe."

Sokka could not help but smile, but made sure Azula could not see him do it.

"You talk to him," she said. "Perhaps you two think alike."

Bowing his head in deference and apology to the old man, he stepped forward and prepared to lie. "I bought the journal off a trader in the Southern Water Tribe," said Sokka. "He had a bunch of ruined scrolls and books he was selling as fire starters, but I noticed this thing was readable so I didn't toast it."

"Ah, I see," said Misso, his frown making him look much older. "Well, it's a good thing you saved it. Perhaps you deduced that it belonged to a man named Hoplo, but you might be surprised to know it's over two-hundred years old. Hoplo was a scholar who took part in an expedition to the farthest reaches of the southern continent. It was quite a famous endeavor at the time, for it involved scholars and benders from all four nations. Many hopes were placed on it, but when it became clear that it would not be returning it put a bit of a damper on exploration into such extreme environments and by the time the great war broke out it was all but forgotten."

"You seem very interested now," said Azula. "Who else knows about what that journal contains?"

Misso rubbed his throat rather than cough and glared at her over his spectacles. "I and one other person have read it since it came here. It's possible that journal lends credibility to some very outlandish ideas about the nature of the world we live in, and if that's the case and it's not the product of a fevered mind that spent much of its life reading certain ancient writings, then the less people who see it, the better." He took a deep, rasping breath to compose himself and Sokka saw he had begun to sweat.

"You see," he continued, "This library boasts a collection of rare works that many scholars at Ba Sing Se University have scarcely heard about. We withhold access to certain tomes and tablets from all but the most hard-minded and sober of scholars. Hoplo spent his life reading writings that have spawned all manner of bizarre and twisted cults across the world. His journal can now be considered such a document, and therefore is dangerous in the wrong hands."

Sokka did not speak right away and hoped Azula would keep quiet until he thought of how to best proceed. He could sense her impatience as he studied Misso's face. Did the man suspect they were lying about why they wanted the journal?

"No disrespect, sir, but I don't think Hoplo was completely nuts when he wrote his journal. I'm with you, this is dangerous stuff. We get that, believe me, but we came here because we need to know more about what's written in there. The books Hoplo mentioned, the city he mapped out, what's a shoggoth..."

The word "shoggoth" hit Misso like a whip. He blanched and placed his hands flat on his desk. With quivering lips, he spoke. "Boy, you had best pray you have no cause to learn what a shoggoth is. It in itself is a terror beyond comprehension, but there are things more terrible still that its existence would imply. I doubt Avatar Aang knows what he's delving into here, not if he merely sent emissaries."

"He's up to his head-arrow in avatar stuff, plus I'm the one who found the journal."

"Bought it, you said?"

"Found it, then bought it," said Sokka. "I'm a book worm, what can I say?"

"Are you now?" Misso leaned forward, and despite the terror he was shaking with Sokka could see a spark in him. This man had spent a lot of time reading books he likely now wished he had not, and it reminded Sokka of old men who perhaps wished they had not enjoyed drink so much in their younger days, but were now powerless to give it up.

Seeing that Sokka was studying him, Misso sat back and collected himself. "I regret that I did not chance to meet you and your sister when you were here during the war, but you've become quite popular ever since. I heard about your trouble over the south pole, near the war's end."

"Ah, it wasn't that bad. People like to blow things out of proportion," said Sokka, feeling as though the room had become hotter.

"That they do," Misso said. "Even if you are Southern Water Tribe, the young men around here hold you in high esteem. More so your sister, but given that we all thought the Avatar dead, news of your apparent death over the pole was taken quite hard."

"I'm honored people cared so much," said Sokka, wondering what the old man had heard about their south pole adventure. It seemed the farther one traveled, the more outlandish the tales got. He had always found it funny that the strangest were never as odd as the truth.

"Well, you should have been here when the news reached us that you had survived. It was not as much a hullabaloo when we learned the Avatar remained with us also, but to be sure, everyone was talking about it. When did you purchase this journal?"

Sokka knew what was happening now, and he wondered why he did not simply tell the old man the truth, for he seemed to know most of it already.

-He only suspects.-

Sokka was startled by the sudden thought, as though someone else had said something in his mind, using his voice. It was true, Misso had said himself that Hoplo's journal could be the product of a person who had gone insane while getting lost in the dark.

"It was right around then, actually. I ended up in a fishing village after I parted ways with Princess Azula and met the trader."

"I see. I hear she's insane now. Perhaps she always was."

Sokka cringed, waiting for Azula to take the bait and explode. He chanced a sideways glance and saw her sitting easy, looking bored and impatient. -Good, cool as a sea cucumber.-

"You know, I didn't think she was so bad. She was kinda stuck up and a little homicidal, but she had a lot of stuff dumped on her at once, and her brother was a little harsh on her when he became Fire Lord."

Misso seemed ready to launch another line of probing questions, or perhaps a full accusation, when there was a knock on the door. "Enter, enter," he said. "Ah, Nekka. And you've brought it, good girl, good girl."

Sokka and Azula turned to see a thin, pale woman about their age with eyes the color of gray sea ice. She wore a plain blue tunic and a pointed hat that covered her long, brown hair which she wore loose around her shoulders. Sokka got goosebumps upon seeing what she clutched in her hands. It was Hoplo's journal, a collection of paper encased in leather that he owed his life to. "Sifu Misso, you wished to see me?"

"Yes," Misso said, his kinder demeanor asserting itself. "These are the two who recovered Hoplo's journal and had it sent here. Sokka and...Mai Lee was it? This is Nekka, Hoplo's descendant."

"He was my great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather," said Nekka, counting her "greats" on her fingers while looking up. "I assumed whatever chronicle he wrote of his last adventure was lost. Where did you find it?"

"I bought it from a guy in the south pole," said Sokka. "I can't get into why, but I need to know more about what's in it."

"Sokka here believes it may not be complete nonsense, although as he says he's not keen on divulging why he believes this," said Misso.

Nekka knuckles turned white against the book leather. "R-really!? Oh, you must tell me!" She turned red all of a sudden, and sat down on a chair that had been hidden by stacks of parchment. "I'm sorry, it's just my ancestor was a respected scholar in this field of ancient history, and to know for certain there's something to those old stories..."

"Nekka," said Misso, his voice sharp with reproach. "Remember yourself. Fantastic claims require fantastic amounts of proof."

"Which we wouldn't talk about even if we had it," snapped Azula. "I keep telling you, we're here to get information, not give it."

Misso sneered and steepled his fingers. "You're in a rather poor position to be holding such an attitude. I have half a mind to toss both of you out of this library this instant, but you appear to know something that I'd very much like to be aware of myself."

Again, Sokka thought of an old drunk who knew better but had no choice. He supposed he could appreciate being drawn to destructive things. "Sifu Misso, forgive Mai Lee here. Fire Nation girls are, well, fiery. I'd love to tell you everything, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I did. Avatar Aang..."

"Yes, yes," interrupted Misso, calming himself but becoming no less curious. "It was relayed to me that the Avatar seems to think there's some bending knowledge to be gleaned here. I doubt that very much, but perhaps if we knew more about what the Avatar thinks he knows we could offer more assistance."

"It looks like we're not going to get anywhere unless there's a little back and forth," Sokka said to Misso, mostly for Azula's benefit. He had the old man's tight attention, and could hear Nekka's breathing.

"You have to promise me one thing first." Sokka waited until he saw the old man nod. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this room. You don't tell Chief Arnook, you don't tell any of your bookworm friends, and you don't write it down anywhere it can be read, got it?"

"Yes, of course," said Misso, too quickly Sokka thought.

Azula did not look pleased, but neither was she objecting.

"I didn't buy the journal from a paper trader. I got it from the pocket of a mummy I found in a cave under a mountain in the south pole." The temperature in the room felt like it had dropped to that of outside, while Misso's face became even paler. "Trust me when I tell you, what's in Hoplo's journal isn't made up nonsense. I don't want to say more, because I don't want anyone ever going there and stirring stuff up. Understand?"

"Yes, of course," said Misso, shifting in his seat suddenly before rising. "I can promise you this will remain between the four of us. I hope you share more, for such knowledge can be a terrible burden and these hallowed halls can act as a kind of tomb for them. I must meditate on what little we've talked about, but Nekka here knows as much as I when it comes to this specific field of study. Just keep in mind her propensity to get carried away with herself and she should help you as much as you need. Nekka, you will do this? Good. Make sure you see me again before you leave the capital."

He left the room like a piece of dust buffeted by a draft, leaving them all bewildered. Sokka clapped his hands together. "So," he said, brightly. "Maybe we should do this over tea? Nice and relaxing, right?"

"Um, tea, yes," said Nekka, looking at the door. "Um...maybe we should go to my house? The books you might want to examine have to be scheduled for viewings ahead of time, but I'm familiar with many."

"That sounds like a great idea," said Sokka.

"Did you have to tell him so much?" asked Azula when they had left the library with their new companion, who had gone several yards ahead of them in the Great Library's long shadow. "I thought we decided it was best to keep this all secret for as long as we could."

"I didn't tell him that much," Sokka said.

"Ha! You gave him the only thing he needed. Did you see how quickly he left once he had it? How do we know he's not an enemy?"

Sokka let that roll around in his mind for a moment before letting out a deep sigh. "We had to tell him something. You can't expect to take from people all the time without giving a little, you know?

"No," Azula said to annoy him.

A bell rang from behind them, and it was answered by another bell, and then another, all part of a chain leading into the city.

Nekka cast a worried glance at the library, and dropped back to walk between her companions. The bell seemed to be an alarm of some kind. "I hope it's nothing serious," Sokka said.

"It's to summon healers," said Nekka. "Seems somebody falls off a ladder or twists an ankle every other week. Many scholars are elderly, you know." She turned her head and body towards Sokka, forgetting the alarm. "Sifu Misso and I actually disagree on a few things regarding these topics. I'll explain them when we get to my house, but..."

As she spoke a small group of guards and healers came running past them with grim expressions on their faces. Nekka stopped and turned towards the library, and they all saw a group of people come rushing from there, their faces pulled into alarm and shock as they met the healers.

The trio retraced their steps and saw crowd near the library entrance several hundred yards distant.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" asked Sokka, pulling aside one of the people who had come running out.

The woman tugged away from him, but soon recognized his face. "A man fell from the top of the Great Library," she said.

Sokka cocked an eyebrow. Given all the ice, Northern Water Tribe people typically took more precautions than most when it came to ledges.

When the reached the base of the tower they saw the healers gathered around a pile of blue robes while guards pushed people back. The color of the ice told everyone that the healers were there for show. Someone called for a litter and a blanket.

Nekka was crying. Sokka put his hand on her shoulder as though she were a hot fire only to have her pull away and crouch to better cover her face. The moment stretched on and Sokka sought some refuge in Azula. She only looked irritated and a little puzzled, but when her eyes flickered to him there was something else. It was enough for Sokka, and they stood by Nekka until her sifu's body was taken away.

-888-

Nekka's house was a modest dome-shaped building on the edge of a market where, if the wind was right, one could smell the sea. The home was tucked between two larger buildings with the entrance was down a narrow alleyway. It had taken a long time to get Nekka moving, and she had cried the entire way.

They all sat on the floor around a small, circular table. Sokka made the tea and whispered to Azula that it might be best if she remained silent as much as possible.

"We're sorry about what happened," he said, after they had all been sitting in relative quiet for half an hour. "We didn't mean to show up and cause pain."

"I know," Nekka said between sobs. "It's just...why? It makes no sense."

This set off another stretch of crying. Sokka wished now he had brought Katara, for she would know precisely how to handle this while all he could do was look properly upset, which he was, and hope Azula kept her mouth shut.

As Nekka wept, Sokka had time to think. When she was calm again, he spoke softly. "We didn't tell you guys everything before, obviously, but maybe it's time we did."

"Of course, it's all very secret," Nekka said, the venom in her voice surprising both her guests.

"Yes, and it still has to stay a secret. You'll see why when I'm done. I'm telling you so you don't think we're the world's worst people by asking for your help after all that's happened."

Despite his plea, the look of hate she wore for him was unsettling and made him talk fast. He told her what happened to the Avatar, and to the Fire Lord, and their other friends. He talked about the dreams, the imparted memories, he told her of Cthulhu and R'lyeh. He told her that he knew what Hoplo had written was true because he had confirmed it all with his own eyes.

Her anger was replaced by a blank stare as he told his story. She believed him, clearly, but was unable to react beyond sipping her tea and looking at the table.

"That's a very disturbing story," she said, after a long pause once Sokka finished. "I can see why you want to keep it secret. Let me guess, you wanted to come here, find some way to save those who were taken, then sweep everything under the carpet with the world none the wiser?"

"Yep," Sokka said, wondering why it only sounded stupid when other people said it.

She continued with her tea and her examination of the table, which was made from a blackened, swirled wood that Sokka found unsettling to look at. "You won't like anything I have to tell you," she said. "If Cthulhu is not only real but moving towards some goal, it's not something we have the power to stop."

"I think you're wrong there," said Sokka, and told her about the froggy men who had attacked them, and the flying horrors. Nekka listened with rapt attention, but was now keeping an eye on one of her small windows. "Now why would they be so keen to stop us if there's nothing we could do?"

"I don't know. All I can tell you is what Cthulhu is, or what it's said to be."

"That's better than nothing," said Azula.

Nekka set down her tea cup, having drained most of it. She grew animated, for despite everything she had suffered this was her passion.

"As you've likely deduced, humans were not the first beings to rule this planet. Most sources agree that beings called the Old Ones were the first to arrive. It's thought that they came from other planets like ours, floating amongst the stars. Their bodies, and to a large extent their minds, are nothing like our own. I believe what you saw on that beach was an Old One."

"Old One," Sokka said, the term sending chills down his back.

"You have to understand, the Old Ones were thought to be obscure myths at best. Even recent history is riddled with embellishment and inaccuracies. Sifu Misso would want me to remember that," Nekka said.

Azula drummed her long fingernails on the table. Sokka, too, was impatient, but hid it. "As I was saying, the Old Ones ruled the planet for a long time, building cities and carrying on with scientific studies. There are indications that their civilization was quite advanced, but as you can see by it no longer being here, something happened."

When she did not elaborate, Azula started to speak but Sokka held his hand up. "Do you know what the Old One's connection to Cthulhu is? Are they minions or something?

"Possibly," said Nekka. "No one is entirely sure just what Cthulhu is. Like the Old Ones, it's from the stars, but the way the Old Tongue is written, that particular phrase could mean it's from another plane of existence, separate from the physical world."

"So he's a spirit, then?" said Azula.

Nekka was thinking, moving her hand over the table as though writing. "No, not exactly, but that may be a good way to think of it."

"It might explain why he went after Aang," said Sokka, thinking Nekka had been right about this knowledge being useless. "It looks like he sent the Old Ones to do it for him."

Nekka shook her head and turned her tea cup around. "The old texts talk about Cthulhu conquering and enslaving other races and beings. There are references to Cthulhu and the Old Ones, but there are also better documented accounts of the Old One's slaves, the shoggoths, overthrowing them. Which event happened first has been a matter of debate.

"In other words, we're as confused as we were before," said Azula, pounding her fist on the table. "Are you sure there's no better scholar than you that's looked into this?"

Sokka gritted his teeth, but Nekka seemed ready to hold her own here.

"No," she said, gripping her tea cup. "There isn't. There's really only two primary sources when it comes to prehistory, that's the Pnakotic Fragments, and copies of the Necronomicon." She was pleased Azula did not know what she meant, but Sokka stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Hoplo scribbled something about the fragments in his journal," he said. "What are they?"

"The Pnakotic Fragments? Originally they were stone tablets, but turned to dust a long time ago. I've read what's been translated and copied from scrolls over thousands of years. They're called fragments because that's what they are, they're not complete. They talk about the coming of the Old Ones, and of Cthulhu, and R'lyeh's sinking. They hint at other things that no one has been able to make sense of, or fill in."

She was shaking again, and brought her tea cup to her lips only to realize she had finished it.

"We can take a break if you need to rest," said Sokka, pouring her another cup. "It's been a rough day and we're sorry we need you to talk about this stuff."

Azula was not on board with this. "I still want to hear about the Necronomicon," she said. "These fragments sound largely useless."

Nekka took another gulp of tea without letting it cool, and curled her lips until the pain passed. "The Necronomicon is a book written hundreds of years ago by a sandbender going by the name of Al-Hazred. Al-Hazred the Mad, as he's sometimes called, but "mad" had different connotations back then. 'One who sees' might be more fitting."

This seemed to please Azula, for what Sokka suspected were personal reasons.

"So, what's this Necronomicon about?" he asked.

"Like the fragments, it's a history, of sorts, but it contains everything Al-Hazred new about the Old Ones, and the Great Old Ones, as Cthulhu and his ilk are often called. He purportedly knew of ways to communicate with such beings, and presumably deal with them."

Azula slapped the table and almost rose to her feet. "Why didn't you start with that, then, you, you..." she settled back down with clenched fists and Sokka's hand on her arm. "We would like to see this book as soon as possible."

Nekka blew on her tea before sipping it. A spiteful calmness had come over her. "The library only has a few copied pages, mostly corroborating the Pnakotic Fragments. The original is said to be in the Library of Wan Shi Tong, which was lost to mankind a long, long time ago."

The sound of Sokka's hand slapping his forehead was like a thunder clap while Azula's cursing like the patter of rain that followed. "Sorry," Nekka said, seeming to have lost her bitter edge. "I wish there was a full copy here. Perhaps there are others, but from what I've heard too much gets lost in translation for it to be of much use to anyone."

"You must have some notion of where in the world this library is," said Azula.

Before Nekka could answer, Sokka waved his hands over the table. "I know where it is," he said. "It's in the Si Wong Dessert. It's where I learned about the Day of Black Sun."

Again there was silence. "So what's the problem, then?" Azula asked.

"Well, we kinda annoyed the library's spirit guardian and he buried the place pretty deep. Even if we could find it again, I have no idea how we'd get to it or how we'd get past Wan Shi Tong. We'd also have to trade him something, like a book, to be allowed to look around. That was before we reminded him why he hated humanity."

Nekka shuffled on her cushion and drummed her fingers on the table. "Well...if you can find the library and get as far as the price of admission, you can have Hoplo's journal to pay the spirit. It might forgive you if you pleaded your case"

Sokka felt like he had been dunked in the ocean and the cold seawater had sucked the energy from his bones, making him soggy and heavy. "And while we're messing around in the dessert, our friends are hanging out with Cthulhu in R'lyeh or wherever. Great."

"Well, don't worry," Nekka said. "If Cthulhu intends to obliterate your friends minds and bodies, surely he's done it by now."

Sokka scanned her face for bitterness, but saw she had genuinely meant to be helpful.

"I don't see any other options," Sokka said. "Maybe Appa remembers where the library is."

Sokka could not remember being so discouraged. He did not want to return to the Fire Nation with such a terrible lead, and he stretched to find excuses not to.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more," Nekka said. "I won't tell anyone about this, either. Misso would have wanted that promise kept. I just wish I knew why he..."

Sokka extended his hand across the table, but Nekka did not reach for it. "Don't be sorry, you've given us a goal, a promising one if we can make it get it together. We're sorry about that happened, and if there's anything we can do down the road just let me know."

She nodded, prompting them all to stand and mosey to the door. They let themselves out, and stood in the alleyway briefly. "The journal," said Azula, holding her hand out. "You said you would give it to us. We intend to visit this library straight away."

"I'll get it," Nekka said, some of her sourness returning. She went inside, but before she could return with the journal, a dozen soldiers had come down alleyway, clogging it.

"Stop there, please," said the lead man.

They moved past Sokka and Azula so they were surrounded. "What's going on, guys?" Sokka asked, sensing they were not hostile and likely wanted to ask questions about Misso's death.

"Chief Arnook got a letter from Fire Lord Zuko asking that you be detained," said the guard Sokka had spoken to on their arrival. "Apparently you stole the Avatar's sky bison." This he added in a secretive voice.

Sokka felt as though he had been slapped. He wished someone would slap him for real, for he felt unsteady on his feet. "Wait, what? That can't be right," he finally stammered.

"That's all I know," said the guard, as Sokka and Azula were separated and lead away. He hoped she would not fight them, not yet at least. "And I'd be in it deep if the higher ups knew I said anything, so act surprised when you see Arnook," the guard added.

"Yeah, I'll try real hard to fake it," said Sokka as they were led away.

To be continued...


	7. Blood

Both he and Azula were bound in chains, which would have been ropes had she not threatened to burn a guard. Their cell had little floor room, but it was tall, creating the illusion of spaciousness. Sokka thought it was the result of either luck or incompetence that he and Azula had been put in the same cell together, but then he noticed the vents near the ceiling.

After the guards had left them, Azula fumed and shouted all manner of oaths and insults, that was until Sokka nudged her and gestured towards the vents. "They're listening to everything we say. They put us together so we'd talk and say incriminating stuff, so be careful," he whispered into her ear from closer than was comfortable.

Smirking, she let loose a string of particularly vile statements about the Northern Water Tribe, which even Sokka found offensive.

With little else to do he sat down and brooded over their prior meeting with Chief Arnook, the one they had after being arrested. They were brought before him in a different chamber than the one he had first received them in, a larger, more imposing hall held up by stone arches and ornamented with whale bones.

Arnook's face had sagged with disappointment and to Sokka's slight comfort, some disbelief.

"Sokka, tell me what's really going on," Arnook had said. "Who is this woman and what are you two really doing here?"

That would have been an ideal time to tell Chief Arnook everything and get the backing of an entire nation, Sokka thought, but he had held his tongue. At best, Arnook would not believe him. At worst, he would think him insane. Any story he told would be investigated, and if they learned who Mai Lee truly was, he doubted Nekka's word would help them much.

Besides, if he told their story it would get back to their enemies, and they did not need to know anymore than they likely did already.

What troubled him now was the question of who had really sent the note from Zuko. He was glad he had asked to see it, and that Arnook was kind enough to show it to both him and Azula.

Chief Arnook, of the Norther Water Tribe, greetings from Fire Lord Zuko. This is embarrassing, but my most trusted adviser has absconded with Avatar Aang's sky bison, and I believe he may seek refuge in your fair city. I would ask that you detain him and whomever he may be traveling with. Please send word if they are found so arrangements to turn them over can be made. Yours, Fire Lord Zuko.

It had come by messenger hawk was all Sokka was told. Azula had remained quiet during the interview, but Sokka had seen her smile when she read the note.

"Well, what now, Plan Boy? We can't return to the Fire Nation like this," Azula said, her breath turning to fog in the cold cell. She had calmed down and seemed satisfied that she had blistered the ears of whoever had been listening in on them.

"I don't know, Mai Lee, I haven't been able to think, because someone's been going on about what my people like to do to snowmen," he said, then added quietly, "I wish I knew who sent that letter to Arnook, though."

Azula sat down beside him and put her lips near his ear. "It wasn't Zuko, that I can tell you. Forging love notes from him to Mai was once a fond pastime of mine, so I should know his handwriting when I see it. It was a very good forgery, though."

Her warm breath tickling his ear made it hard for him to think. "Probably some frog-faced jerk. My guess is we won't make it to the Fire Nation when we leave here," he said.

"If we leave here," she said. "If our enemies can forge notes from the Fire Lord, they can send men with daggers to pay us a night visit."

"We'll sleep in shifts," Sokka said.

"Sleep? In this dingy cell? I should tell them who I really am and demand better lodging. The rules of nobility transcend borders."

"Shhh, keep it down," he said, nodding up at the ceiling.

Azula looked to the vents and grinned while casting him a conspiratorial glance. "Oh, Sokka, is there no place on earth that our love can be free?" she said loudly.

"What are you...what?" Alarmed, he looked around their small cell, then to the door.

"I said we should elope in the Earth Kingdom, but you said the Northern Water Tribe was more romantic. You romantic fool!"

A fit of good humor suddenly flooded him and he bit his lip to keep quiet. Hoping his stifled snorts were being heard as sobs, he cried out, "I'm sorry, Mai Lee. I was blinded by love, and my desire for our wedding to be beautiful drove me to folly. I will always love you, Mai Lee."

Sokka wished to laugh aloud, as something inside him felt like it had broken and the humor would purge his body and spirit of all the poison it had accumulated.

"My love allows me to forgive, my little snowman," said Azula, stifling her chuckles as well. He tried not to stare at her for her smile, now free of malice, made her look like Suzi. He wondered how his roommate was doing, if Katara was safe, and thought he would ask a question.

"When you kissed me that one time, were you planning to scratch me, too, or was that on the spur of the moment?"

Her smile froze on her face as her mind churned. "What makes you think I planned either? Don't think your little flirting game when we were in the balloon had any effect on me."

Sokka had forgotten what she was talking about, but after a moment he remembered. Their escape from the caverns had been followed by a harrowing balloon trip, one which ended in them running across a Fire Nation search party. He had needed her for his escape, and in the end she helped him. Whether it had been because of his feigned interest in her near the end, or the sum of their experiences, he did not know.

"Oh, I think it did work," he said, speaking low. "You were going to turn me over to the Fire Nation, but I figured you liked guys of a certain type, so I put on a little act and you bought it."

Her face was still a wall of ice, betraying nothing. "And what type would that be?"

"Confident. Assertive. A jerk."

"I didn't notice you acting any differently than normal. That's funny, you thought you could pretend to be someone you weren't with me." Her amber eyes turned toward him, blazing. "I know who you really are, Sokka. I've seen you in your lowest moments, when you were pushed to the very edge. Does that bother you?"

"No. I'm happy with myself," he said. "I saw the same side of you, maybe you're the one that's bothered."

She snorted. "Oh, I'm bothered alright, but you're the least of my problems."

"Maybe, but you still don't like the fact that I've seen the girl that lives underneath the scary fire princess," he said. "Something tells me even your so-called friends never got a glimpse of her. Not a good one, at least."

"There may be a girl underneath the scary fire princess, but don't forget the princess is still quite real. And in control," said Azula.

His fit of laughter before had left him feeling heady, like he had sipped too much fire wine. "Sometimes that scary princess is just the one we need," he said, wanting their small cell to return to a state of peace. "Granted, she could tone it down a little."

Azula's eyebrows rose, almost imperceptibly. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you're learning to appreciate me," she said. "You have some useful traits yourself. That Kyoshi Warrior is a lucky girl."

"Pfft. Tell that to her," Sokka said, not sure he wanted to talk about Suki. It was all he could do not to think about her or his friends and where they might be.

"Did it not work out? What happened?"

The sound of sincerity in her voice caught him off guard, sucked him in. "Time, distance, life. I don't know. What really stinks is the last time I talked to her I drank too much fire wine and acted like a complete moose pig. I don't care if she'll love me again, I just want her to be safe."

"That's pathetic," Azula said.

"I'm pathetic? Oh, boy, that's rich."

"You are. But I suppose it doesn't matter, does it? I've never been loved by anyone, but here I am stuck in a cold cell next to a man whining over a woman who dumped him. What's the point in fighting these monsters if our two options are being pathetic or being alone?"

"Those aren't our two options, for one thing," Sokka said. "And what do you mean no one ever loved you? Your mother..."

"Don't ever talk about my mother," she said curtly. "She hated me, my father saw me as a tool, and my brother locked me away. As for Mai and Ty Lee, they only pretended to be my friends."

"You've only got yourself to blame there. Like I was saying, maybe if you keep the scary fire princess to a minimum you'd find some real friends."

"You're an idiot," she said. "You're also the closest thing I think I'm ever going to have for a friend. Now that's pathetic."

His breath caught, and his back straightened. He did not know what to say, but knew it had to be something, and soon, before she noticed the silence. "Um, that's not all that pathetic. I mean, I'm a fun guy...we could hang out, someday. Maybe. If you weren't trying to kill me or my friends."

Sokka cringed, preparing for whatever sarcastic remark she was about to make.

"I'd like that," she said, the whispered sound entombing itself on the floor of the cell.

He watched the vapor that floated out of her mouth and disappeared between them. He shivered. His chains rattled.

"I'd like the company of a hippo pig if meant not going back to a cell," Azula added, scowling and turning away from him.

With nothing more to say they decided quietly that sleep was a good idea. With some reluctance, Azula said she would sleep first, leaving Sokka to remain on the alert for the assassins she was sure were on their way. She leaned against the wall, but since she was not screaming she was not asleep.

In the silence he had time to think, mostly of questions. Each answer he offered up split into two more questions, and with nothing but assumptions to make he let his mind wander. Predictably all it did while wandering was worry. The only other thing to think about was Azula, and this made him tired and tense.

A knock on the cell door jolted him; he had been half-sleeping.

The guard in the doorway was the one he had met on arriving in the Northern Water Tribe. He was older than Sokka, but young still. "You have a visitor," he said. "Uh, no one is listening in on you anymore."

Sokka gave a nod and was both relieved and disappointed to see Nekka. She entered the cramped cell and the door shut behind her.

"They told me why you were arrested," she said. "Something is very, very wrong if what you told me was the truth.

"You can say that again. How are you holding up?"

She straightened her domed cap and rubbed her eyes. Nekka had been crying, but she wore a hunted look Sokka had not seen on her before, even in her house as they told her the truth about why they had come.

"I'm fine," she said. "One of the guards came back to my house after you were arrested and we talked for a while. He's sort of a friend of mine...you met him just now. I didn't tell him everything, just enough so he would agree to help you escape. I guess he remembers you from the last time you were here, and doesn't think you're a bison thief."

Sokka's breath came out in a powerful cone of fog. "Yes! Man, I was getting' worried. So, what's the plan?"

"Just be ready to move tonight," Nekka said. "A few people actually came to ask me about you. It seems you have quite a few friends in the city that you didn't know about."

"Good to know," Sokka said. "You might want to lay low after we're gone, you've suffered enough because of us. Word of what's going on in the Fire Nation will get here eventually, and things might get pretty crazy."

"I don't blame you for what happened," Nekka said. "I don't know why Sifu Misso did what he did, it was so unlike him, but I hope he was wrong."

"Thanks for all your help, Nekka," said Sokka. She played with the ends of her brown hair for a moment, then bowed. When she was gone Sokka put his hands together, his chains clinking.

"A group of friends, did she say? My, how convenient. I shudder to think what you must have done for a group of people to commit treason for you," Azula said.

"You think it's a trap? Seems kinda clunky."

"The guard is legitimately trying to help us. He seems to have a man-crush on you, but as for the others I'm not so sure."

"I don't know, Princess Yue had a thing for me, it's entirely possible I picked up a group of adoring fans while I was here."

"All you picked up was an inflated ego and possibly a disease," she said. "I'll be preparing myself for a less than friendly welcome this evening, I advise you do the same."

He looked down at his shackles and thought it too bad the guards had not gagged her. "I just want to know how these people and things keep finding us. I mean, how powerful are they?"

"Powerful enough to haunt my dreams wherever I go. Maybe they can send messages to each other that way."

"Or read your mind," he said, mulling over new jigsaw puzzle pieces.

"Oh, so this is my fault?

"I wouldn't say it's your fault, but maybe that's how these things knew about Aang to kidnap him."

"That's nonsense," she said, her chains clattering.

Sokka shook his head and stood up. He used the wall to support himself while he did stretches. His legs ached regardless of what he did, and he stopped short of doing jumping jacks to pump blood into his limbs, for there was not enough room. "It's just a theory," he said, satisfying her.

"If we ever lay eyes on that girl's stupid Necronomicon I'm sure it will shed some light on the subject," said Azula. "And that's looking like a big if at this rate."

"Nah, we can do this. The hard part will be getting to Appa. Once we're in the air, I'm sure he'll remember where the library was and we can hire some sandbenders or something." The plan sounded terrible each time he thought it over and worse when said aloud.

"I'd rather not know that our fates hinge on the brains of a bison," said Azula.

"Well, right now they hinge on how ready we are to move when the time comes, so let's rest as much as we can."

Sleep was not something either of their bodies wanted, and they passed long hours in silence. When the door opened it was like an era had passed. Both jumped to their feet and blundered into several grasping hands, which tugged them from the cell into a hall lit by torches.

Sets of bulging eyes too far apart from each other glittered wetly in the torchlight. There were about six of them, all middle aged. Two were women and while their hair lines were not receding, they bore all the other distinctive features found in the so-called Outer-Maw look.

"Just who the heck are you people?" Sokka asked, and was punched in the stomach.

"Coulda lived longer if you'd just let nature take its course, but your bookish friend told us what was up," said the largest of the men. "We'll sort you out now, but not here."

Azula had been gagged quickly, and her heavy chains kept her from fighting effectively. She did manage to bite one of the people who gagged her, but she took two hard blows to the head in response. Sokka was gagged also and they were led roughly out of the prison and through narrow streets, becoming disoriented in the process.

One of the alleys led to a long flight of stairs that ended at a causeway. The city's ice wall was darker this night under the cloudy sky, but it still shone in contrast to the black, lapping water of the sea.

Set into the ice wall like gaping eye sockets were drainage tunnels large enough for people to walk through. They entered the third one from the stairs and followed it for a hundred yards or so before one of their captors bent a wall of ice aside to reveal a lower, narrower tunnel.

The man's bending form was crude, but Sokka was surprised to see that any of them could waterbend.

They came to a large, domed chamber filled with the smell of smoke from burning braziers. Dozens of people, all with the Outer-Maw look, stood around in threadbare clothing. The look was so pronounced on some, they barely seemed human, especially the black-robed priest who stood behind a misshapen alter of ice. His eyes were like glass bowls, pale and watery. He had wide, flabby lips and no chin to speak of. His bald head sloped backward and was scabby in places, giving way to what looked like scales.

Sokka was brought with Azula before the altar and forced to kneel. The ice was discolored and there were long gouges in its surface. When their gags were removed, Azula immediately began issuing threats.

"Silence!" bellowed the fishy-looking priest. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"

"Please tell me someone is going to at least tell us what's going on before they kill us?" said Sokka, desperately trying to squeeze out of his shackles. He envisioned hobbling out of the room while Azula breathed fire, but given the number bodies around them he was beginning to feel numb and heavy.

The priest bellowed another strange set of syllables and was answered by a rousing chorus if "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" from the gathered people.

"Mortal fools!" said the priest, his lips doing a poor job of keeping the saliva in his mouth. "We stand at the end of an era! The Dreamer has lain dead for long cycles and finally the stars are right for the return! Dead Cthulhu stirs in his house at R'lyeh! No mortal dreamer may deny it, no sojourner among the stars or the voids between the worlds! Great Cthulhu, he who lies dead but which can never die, has bid us to end you, for you seek to blaspheme and hinder. You!" he grabbed Azula by the hair and held her head up. "Your blood will spill the last, to wash the altar clean of this one!" He slapped Sokka. "You are a dreamer, yet you do not believe. You see, yet you have no faith. You have fear, yet you have no loyalty. Mighty Cthulhu will rise when the stars are right, which will be soon."

The priest took a long, curved dagger from his robe and held it in his thick, webbed fingers.

"One question," said Sokka, his eyes flickering to Azula who had bent her head down and was breathing heavily. "Why did he take Aang? Why did the Old Ones take the Avatar? You know what I'm talking about."

The priest laughed. "It's questions that brought you here, boy. Questions without a desire for faith lead only to death, as the old fool Misso discovered. Aha, yes, we slew him! Our reach is long, fools."

"Answer me, why did you take Aang!?" Sokka shouted.

His head was forced down into the altar, and the priest cried, "Cthulhu fhtagn! You know nothing, and you will die knowing nothing save that when mighty Cthulhu devours the Avatar's spirit he will be mightier than all, even the Demon Sultan Azathoth!"

Chants of "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" filled the air and Sokka waited for the priest's robed sleeve to shuffle which would signal the dropping of the curved dagger. He would then twist, and kick at the strong body that held him from behind, hoping for the best.

When the chants became cries of alarm and the sound of water slapping against bodies could be heard, Sokka yanked his head to the side only to feel a bright, wet pain shoot from his ear into his head. He screamed and threw himself backward into a body, and they both went down. Blood had soaked his coat, and he could feel his ear was not in the right place.

He saw that Azula was fighting with more success than he had been having. When the priest reached over the altar to grab her by the hair and run his bloody dagger across her throat, she spewed a puff of flame into his face. The weapon clattered on the alter amid his shrieking as his hands covered his face.

A patrol of city guards had come down the tunnel and attacked the cult members, all of which were fighting with religious fervor. Some even showed themselves to be capable waterbenders. Sokka got to his feet, and staggered to the altar where he took the dagger and turned to the man that had grabbed Azula from behind. He was too busy trying not to be burned by the fire she was spitting to stop Sokka from using the dagger on his midsection. The man fell away, and Sokka went with Azula to the altar.

"Free me and this battle is ours!" she said.

The dagger, fortunately, was made from a higher quality metal than the shackles, and he used it to pry them open and off her hands and feet. He thought he would be on his own once she was loose, but she took the dagger and used it too roughly break his bonds.

"Fools!" Shouted the priest, his thick, wet lips now dotted with blisters along with the rest of his face. "R'lyeh will rise again soon, and you two will be marked for a special doom! Ia! Ia! Cthulhuaaaahh!"

Azula's lighting bolt entered his chest and sent him hurling into the wall where he caught fire.

"Time for a fish-fry," said Azula, turning to the battle behind them. Before she could complete the hand motions she used to split her chi and create lightning, Sokka grabbed her wrist and pulled her off balance.

"You'll hit the guards!" he shouted, hoping to calm or at least divert the anger in her eyes.

"They're our enemies, too!" she hissed, pulling away from him.

All he knew was he no longer wanted to be in this room regardless of who won the fight. His entire right side was soaked in blood, and his hand told him his ear was hanging by a small cord of flesh. He was dizzy, and the pain was growing deeper into his skull. He grabbed her, and led her through the chaos, her flames and lighting causing everyone to give them a wide berth.

They were in the drainage tunnel when a familiar voice called to them above the din echoing from the ritual chamber. Sokka kept a firm hold of Azula, for she was now leading him in his dazed state.

"Go, go!" their guard ally said, as he waived them along.

The cold air of the outside made Sokka's ear burn, and he let go of Azula to hunch over and wretch. "Wow, you're bleeding pretty good, man," said the guard.

"Oh, dear! What happened?" It was Nekka. She had been standing at the entrance to the tunnel.

"Those supposed friends of ours that you were so helpful towards tried to kill us," said Azula. "Luckily the city guard showed up in the nick of time." She put emphasis on the word nick, and slapped Sokka on the back.

"Luck had nothing to do with it," said the guard, wary of her. "I was coming to help you escape like we planned when I saw I'd been beaten to it. Nekka was with me, so I had her go get more guards while I followed you and marked where their tunnel was hidden."

"Sounds like luck to me," Azula said. "We need to be going. Is the bison ready like you said it would be?"

"Yeah," said the guard, peering at Sokka's wound. "I even packed his boomerang. He's really hurt, isn't he?"

"Yes, which is why need to move," Azula said.

"Wait, he needs a healer," said Nekka.

"I'll see to his injuries when we're in the air," said Azula, hauling Sokka along. "Lead us to the bison."

They moved quickly. Sokka let Azula lead him while he wondered if the guard would get into trouble for his role in this. Mostly he thought about the healing supplies he had made a point to purchase and wondered if he would still have his ear by the end of this.

Appa was shuffling restlessly on top of a high, wide tower. The guard had gone ahead to make sure no other guards were around, and after doing something to clear the area briefly, they were all standing around the great, fury beast's many legs as he grunted with impatience and alarm at the smell of blood.

"Hey, thanks, man," Sokka said, extending his bloody hand to the guard, who reached for the other one. "I never got your name."

"Dekken," said the guard. "Sorry your wedding didn't go down like you hoped. I take it those were her in-laws?

"What?" Sokka said, then remembered his and Azula's mock conversation in their cell. "Oh, no, no..."

"A little joke," said Dekken. "I can see something weird is going on here and I'd offer to help, but I don't think it would be a good idea if I ran off with you. I might be in enough trouble as it is."

"Here," said Nekka, holding out Hoplo's journal to Sokka, who was reluctant to take it with his bloody hands.

Azula took it instead, then handed it back to Nekka while grabbing her arm. "You hold on to it. You're coming with us."

"Wha-what? N-no, I couldn't...Sifu Misso..."

"Is dead. Those fish-eyed freaks killed him, just like they'll kill you if you stay here. You think that was all of them back there? You're marked now and, besides, we need someone who can make sense of that musty old book if we ever find it. This isn't a request."

Sokka was wobbling on his feet as the ground spun. He was barely aware of what was happening, but Dekken did not seem to notice when he spoke to him. "I need you to hit me," Dekken said. "I'll say I was leading you to safety when you sucker punched me. Sokka? Sokka?"

"I don't know..." Sokka began to say, then Azula did the deed. Her fist smashed into Dekken's eye and he went down, still conscious but with a blossoming wound that would help his story immensely.

"You..." Sokka began to say, but a front of nausea hit him, and he was ushered up Appa's flat, meaty tail by Azula, who pushed and dragged Nekka alongside him.

"I've always wanted to try this," said Azula, taking Appa's reins when they were in the saddle. The bison grunted deeply and shook his head when Azula held his reins and sat on the back of his neck.

"Easy, buddy, do what she says," called Sokka as loudly and gently as he could while he laid down. His head and shoulder had become a sticky mess.

"Yip-yip," shouted Azula, and like an annoyed, fluffy flower seed pod, Appa rose into the air and drifted to the southeast.

Sokka heard Nekka muttering something about her healing skills not being so great before the airiness and nausea he felt came together to form a kind of tornado that spun him off into blackness.

To be continued...


	8. The Wanted Ones

The sharp piping of sea birds and the smell of brine made him think for a moment he was home again, snoozing in a canoe. Cold water against his head made him open his eyes, only for them to shrivel in the sunlight. A cool cloth was applied to his forehead and he groaned.

Sokka's skull felt like it was a bucket of pus, as did his stomach, which from time to time heaved in an effort to toss up its contents, but since it was empty all it did was wrack him with pain.

"Shhh," the voice he heard was a snake moving through grass. "Try to drink. You won't live much longer if you don't."

It was Azula's voice slithering between his ears. He coughed when water was dripped into his hot, sandy mouth, and his head threatened to come to pieces and his stomach shrank to the size of a raisin.

"I don't care if it hurts," she said softly into his good ear. "You need to swallow this water, or you're going to die."

Sokka heard the birds caw, the sea sloshing against a gravel beach. He could smell the water even when he breathed out, for the odor had permeated his nose and mouth. Azula was talking. There was another voice, but it was fading along with hers. He was going far away.

-888-

The Water Tribe boy was dying.

A strange kind of fear had fallen over her like a fever at the realization, which had been building since the night before as she flew the bison southeast towards the Earth Kingdom.

The scholar girl said she knew some healing techniques and had set to work on Sokka with them as they flew. It had soon become clear they needed to land and getting the stubborn bison to set down on a flat iceberg had been a rather vexing challenge. After they had landed, Azula got the medical kit and cleaned Sokka's wound only to find his ear hanging by a small segment of flesh and practically boiling with infection.

Once the wound was cleaned and bound, the scholar girl had bent a globule of water over it and made it glow green with her chi. "I'm not very good at this," she had said.

"Clearly," Azula had said. "Just make sure you don't botch it completely. If he dies we'll have serious problems."

They had found this beach in the morning. It was part of a rocky, lonely island that sported some greenery on its southern end. The bison had been eager to land, and less eager to feast on the cold seaweed that grew plentifully around the shoals, but hunger had driven it to eat them with gusto.

Azula was tired and hungry herself, but Sokka needed water before anything else. He was not waking up and she could not seem to get him to take even a small amount of liquid.

Under her direction, the scholar girl retrieved a healing salve from the medical kit which Azula applied directly to Sokka's wounds. While he was no longer bleeding the salve did nothing for the infection which was spreading its redness into his skull and face.

The day wore on and Sokka showed no signed of improvement despite the scholar girl being told to use her bending in an effort to heal him. The girl insisted that if she used her bending to force him to drink when he could not take a sip on his own he would drown. Azula wanted to slap her, but knew she was right.

-What a stupid way to die,- she thought, looking down at his ashen face and hating the seabirds that were calling to each other about the free meal they assumed they would soon have.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Nekka let her water globule fall and splash on the blanket next to Sokka's head.

"Why are you stopping? He's dying, you know," Azula said.

"I can't...it's too tiring, I can't keep it up anymore."

"You have energy to complain, you have energy to heal," she said, moving the bandage to examine the wound. It was bad, but her efforts had likely extended his life.

"I-I have an idea," Nekka said, looking inland over the rocks and stunted plants.

Azula squeezed some water from a skin into Sokka's mouth and he gagged. She held his head so he would not jostle his ear. "It had better be good," she said.

"There might be a certain type of herb growing on this island. I can tell from the other plants. It's supposed to be excellent for infections, but I can't remember if it's in season."

"What are you waiting for, go!" Azula shouted. Nekka fled like a spooked quail mouse into the scrub lands towards a stand of larger bushes.

Azula kept trying to make Sokka drink until evening when a purple curtain seemed to rise from the horizon and reveal the stars. -What did that priest say about stars? That they're almost right?-

Her dreams had involved stars, the kind that hid in the blackest parts of the sky, unseen for entire eras.

Sokka coughed and his eyes fluttered. She touched his forehead to feel the infection burning him up and his eyelids peeled back to reveal dry orbs, alive with an unexpected lucidity. She had heard dying men sometimes rallied at the end, the spirit's one last hurrah.

"Azula," he said, her name almost unintelligible in the dryness of his mouth.

"Silence. That girl will be back soon with some medicine, so you'd be a fool to die now. Drink!"

She squeezed a damp cloth over his open mouth and clamped her hand over his lips as he choked. "Your stomach or your lungs, one way or another you're going to take it," she said.

Dehydration had given him the semblance of a dried corn husk. He looked worse than she had ever seen him, even when they were in that terrible, cold place at the south pole. "This would be a very stupid way for you to die, Sokka," she said, not knowing if he could hear her.

She turned her head when the sound of Nekka's footsteps came rattling down a gravely animal trail that wound through the low, rough scrub bushes. In her hands was a bouquet of green leaves which she was looking at instead of where her feet were being planted. When she fell, Azula lost her patience and screamed. "Get over here, you bungling fool! If he dies because of your incompetence, so help me..." her voice had cracked and she clipped her words short.

"A-all we have to do is grind them into the other salve," babbled Nekka, who cowered when she got close to Azula. "I think this is the right plant..."

"If it's not, you can eat the rest of the medicine for dinner. Hurry, it's probably already too late."

The healing kit came with a small mortar and pestle which Nekka used to grind the new leaves in with the existing salve. Azula removed Sokka's bandages and readied fresh ones while the salve, now a pea green color, was applied to the bare, red flesh of his wound.

When his bandages were replaced Azula continued to try and make Sokka drink. He no longer choked or gagged, something Azula took for a good sign and allowed herself a long enough reprieve to build a fire and fix herself something to eat.

Her intention had been to wake up periodically in the night to check on Sokka, but once asleep her terrors resumed. As always, she was running through black, stone streets that were somehow simultaneously straight and twisted, long and short. They curved forever in some places, and others occupied no space at all. Azula dared not stop running, even as the buildings around her grew larger and more incomprehensible. She was not alone in the city, for she could hear the constant sound of a thousand inhuman throats chanting, "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

The sound came from the archways, the holes in the buildings, black abysses that leered at her from every turn. She kept her eyes focused downward, not simply to keep from stepping on an obtusely angled rock that behaved as though it were acute, but because she dared not look at the thing above her.

She had looked at it once before and how it had not driven her completely mad she could not say, but she would not make the same mistake twice. It could see her easily enough wherever she went, whatever hole she crawled in; it was like a fire hawk and she a small mouse in an open field. Unlike the hawk, it would not swoop until she looked up at it. That was the game it played. It wanted to watch her crawl through its streets, become coated in their filth, before she finally said "Enough!" and looked into its eyes, offering herself up to be consumed.

Running was becoming tiresome. She had fallen into some black, sticky substance. It was on her hands, dripping, spreading down her arms as it chewed at her with a million tiny mouths. It hurt. It burned. It was on her face, the heat spreading over her skin and penetrating her skull.

It was the warm, yellow sun come to wake her. Azula rose quickly and looked around. There were no walls, nothing to keep the gentle, cool breeze off her face and out of her hair. She crossed her arms, feeling like something was still watching her. It was Nekka, who was crouched over Sokka's body as he lay on the ground beside the low-burning fire.

"G-good morning," Nekka said. "He's doing much better."

His bandages had been changed again, and Nekka was right, some of Sokka's natural tan color had returned to his face and his breathing was stronger. He had been given water and so Azula set to making herself breakfast, then bid Nekka to collect firewood. The girl obeyed, leaving her alone with Sokka.

"How long are we going to stay here?" Nekka dared ask around mid-morning. Azula came close to giving a response that would have ensured no more questions came from the scholar, but with the sun high and shining and Sokka's improved pallor, her mood had improved.

"We'll leave as soon as he's conscious," Azula said. "It's dangerous to stay in one place for too long."

Afternoon had come by the time Sokka stirred. Azula took the opportunity to make him drink and when his throat was wet, he spoke. "What happened? Where am I?"

She had not expected to feel so relieved. "Alive," she said, sharply. "Drink more, you're dying of dehydration."

He did as he was told, and she let him sit in silence while Nekka preformed another water healing session over his ear. When she was done, Azula explained what had happened to him.

Sokka touched his bandage and let his hand flop back onto the bedroll he had been laid out on. "How long?"

"It's been a few days since we left the Northern Water Tribe," Azula said. "The medicine I had the girl make for you was quite effective, but you still need rest. We'll leave when you can move. In the mean time keep drinking water."

"Thanks," he said. "Can do."

"Just heal quickly. Nursing you is becoming tedious."

She left Sokka to sleep and walked to the other side of the fire where Nekka sat hugging her knees. She sat down next to her, and noted how the girl cringed. "Alright, bookworm, time to earn your keep."

"I have been earning it," said Nekka. "You forced me to come along."

"I saved your life, or at the very least prolonged it. Those freaks who kidnapped us, who were they? We've seen their kind before, they appear to be some kind of cult."

Nekka straightened her hat and moved a few inches away. "Cthulhu and beings like him have attracted the worship of a number of scattered cults all across the world. Sifu Misso said most are harmless, but a few talk to each other and aren't so harmless. I don't know much about them, honestly. I had no idea one was living in the Northern Water Tribe."

"A costly mistake," said Azula. "It's not just the cult plaguing us. Like we told you, we were attacked by flying monsters that defied description. Any thoughts on how they might have known where to look for us?"

"I don't have any idea," said Nekka, her voice quaking.

Azula's fists clenched and she took long, deep breaths in order to remain calm. Some people were like plum apples, she thought, with tough, rubbery skins that dared one to squeeze them too hard. Doing so, however, made a mess.

"That priest I destroyed said something about the stars being right and he mentioned something called a Demon Sultan, Azathoth I think it was. What was that babble all about?"

Nekka turned her head so Azula could see her face. She was scared, but talking about these twisted things seemed to have a calming affect on her. "The stars being right I think literally means the position of the stars, so it's like saying the time is right. As for Azathoth," she shook her head. "The consensus among scholars is that Azathoth is some kind of entity, like Cthulhu only greater. There's a line in the Pnakotic Fragments that indicates it's served by lesser beings, but I've never heard of it being called a demon sultan."

Azula frowned, some of her good mood ebbing. She waived her hand and made the campfire burn higher. "He called Sokka a dreamer. Sokka has been having some strange dreams since his encounter with the Old One on the beach. Care to shed any light on that?"

"I would if I could," said Nekka, a boldness growing in her tone. "Speaking of dreaming, what were yours about?"

The campfire flared, then calmed as Azula regained control of herself. "I'm trapped in a city, like none I've ever seen or heard about. The way it's built, it couldn't exist outside of a dream. There's chanting in another language, but somehow I can understand it. 'In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.' What does that mean?"

"I think it means Cthulhu is calling to you through your dreams," Nekka said. "It's known that certain people...artists, and gurus, and the like, sometimes get messages from things beyond this world."

"Artists and gurus, right. Madmen, too?" Azula picked up a rock and tossed it towards the lapping water. It struck a larger stone then went bouncing down the rough slope that led from the sea to their campsite. "I had hoped you would be more enlightening," Azula said.

"Well, sorry," said Nekka, now bold. "Who are you, really?

"Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation," she said, calling blue flames to her finger tips and letting them dance in the air before her.

"Azula? But you're..."

"Crazy? Locked up in an asylum? Do you have any idea what I've been through? You think the secrets you read in your books and scrolls are maddening, well try having them whispered in your ear every night for three years by things that don't have lips and don't speak any human language! And when they're not whispering, during what you think may be the daytime even though you've lost track, that's when mother comes to tell her lies! It's a wonder I'm not talking to myself while I eat my own hair, like some of the other gibbering slobs in Healer Bin's little kingdom."

Azula was on her feet, not remembering having stood up. She felt better, but suddenly her face flushed red. Sokka coughed, signaling he was awake, something Azula felt she had known for a while now.

"You must be very strong," said Nekka, trying to make herself smaller.

"Yes, I am. I had to be. They took everything away from me, even the sunlight. I've been in cold, dark places before, but I had someone with me, then. He had a nice, human face, something I could look at and remind myself I existed. I didn't have that in the asylum. They wore masks when I had to be tended to because they thought I'd burn them." She was pacing back and forth, realizing how she sounded but pressing on. Some things had to be said. "They were right, but that's beside the point. I was trying to remember his face for a long time, but I couldn't seem to get it. It kept melting, or not coming together right. It was a good thing he came to see me when he did, I was about to..."

She stopped abruptly. She had said enough, especially to this Water Tribe girl who may or may not have been about to call her crazy. Sokka rolled onto his side, an encouraging sign, and kept his eyes closed.

"You mean...him?" Nekka asked, pointing to Sokka.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I don't like him and he doesn't like me. We've got a common goal and some shared experiences, so we're working together."

Nekka was silent, careful not to make eye contact with Azula. The seabirds had calmed, but the wind had picked up to batter their low-burning fire. "Go get more wood for the fire," said Azula. The girl began to rise, not eager to go back into the brush but eager to be away. "On second thought, I'll get it. The wood you fetch is too green to burn properly."

She left the camp, following the animal trail Nekka had used into the chest high bushes. Her unguarded words still hung in the air around the camp like a physical thing, something she could feel like a thick fog and wanted to be away from.

-888-

Several hours passed in the scrub land where the color of everything was muted even under the bright sun. Only the blue-hued stones seemed to hold any vibrancy, that and the leaves on the lower part of the umbrella-shaped plants that were most protected from the bleaching effect of being close to the sea. Despite the drab surroundings Azula found herself basking as if it were the most brilliant beach in the Fire Nation and not some glorified shoal at the edge of the northern sea.

She was looking up at the sky and wondering what she looked like from the air. Flying, she had decided, was something she loved. The sky bison was smelly and his fur was coarse, and watching it eat and make leavings was disgusting, but what it allowed its riders to do made up for all of that. Even an airship was second-rate by comparison.

Being high in the sky on a bright sunny day was also the furthest thing she could think of from being in a cell or running through a twisted, dark dream city.

She let the sun beat on her face, infusing her with its warmth. Before, she had tried to keep to the shade despite the sun's positive effect on her bending for she had valued her fair complexion, but there was such a thing as too pale. It felt good to worry about little things like her vanity, but as the late morning pushed into the afternoon she felt drawn back to the camp.

She was nearly there when she remembered her original purpose and, not wanting to look like a fool, gathered up some sticks and branches and carried them in her arms to the camp.

Her pace quickened when she saw Sokka was sitting up with Nekka beside him. He was sipping some sort of tea and while he still look pale, the caul of death had lifted from him. He saw her and raised his cup in greeting. "Hey," he said. "How's it going?"

"Wonderful," she said, and dropped her sticks near their dwindled fuel pile then took her place on the side of the fire opposite her two companions. "You're lucky to be alive. Had this one not suddenly remembered there's a special plant on this island, you wouldn't have made it."

Nekka looked like she wanted to protest, but held her tongue. "Nekka told me all about it," Sokka said, frowning. "She also explained why you kidnapped her. Good thinking."

"Hopefully it won't backfire on me. Some people aren't cut out for this sort of thing," she said.

"Some people might surprise you," said Sokka.

She willed the fire to burn hotter as she got up to throw some of the greener sticks on it. They smoldered, but under her direction caught fire and burned with a low, blue flame. She watched the two Water Tribe members carefully. Sokka was sipping his tea, pretending not to stare at her while Nekka was looking off towards the sea, likely pining for her library full of fools and things not worth knowing.

What had they been talking about while she was gone? No doubt the girl had been whining, but had there been more?

"When are we leaving? Soon, I trust," said Azula.

"You got it. Staying in one place too long is a bad idea, but we can't head straight for the desert. We need more water skins first."

"How long do you expect this little desert adventure to last, assuming the bison does remember the way and assuming we can still reach the library?" Azula had never been to the Si Wong Desert, but had read about it. It sounded like an awful place regardless of how one traveled over it.

"By air, a couple days. The last time we were there we lost Appa and had to walk out. Aang used his bending on a cloud and we drank that, but there wasn't much and there aren't many clouds in the desert. And I definitely would not recommend drinking cactus juice."

He shuddered, making Azula raise a curious eyebrow, but Nekka's voice turned her face to a scowl. "M-may I say something?"

"No," said Azula, knowing the girl was just going to tell them the book they sought might be useless, and she was pessimistic enough as it was.

"What, Nekka?" asked Sokka.

The girl pursed her lips and looked towards the fire. "Never mind."

There was a long silence and Azula wondered if her plum apple had burst. Not caring, she got a cup and poured herself some tea.

"Whoa!" Sokka shouted, spilling some of his tea and making his head hurt. "Ooh, ow. I had an idea too hard..."

"How can you have an idea too hard?" Azula asked. He stood up, wobbling, while Nekka got up to help him.

"This Necronomicon, it's written on paper, right?" asked Sokka, holding his head and squinting.

"Y-yes, I believe so," said Nekka. "It might also be bound in human skin, but those are rumors."

"Ew. Well, it doesn't matter, there's a lot of paper in the library, but there's not a lot of paper in the desert, see?"

"I think you need to lie down for a few more hours," Azula said.

"Yes, but I know a bounty hunter who lives in the Earth Kingdom. She rides a shirshu, which is like a giant mole only meaner, and it can smell out pretty much anything. We give it a whiff of paper, lead it to the desert, and it can sniff out the library for us!"

"Isn't the Si Wong Desert rather large? I don't care how good this beast's nose is, there's no way it's going to smell out a buried library," said Azula.

"We don't have to search the whole desert," said Sokka, returning to his seat in a controlled fall. A smile was on his face, and she tried not to let it infect her. "In its center, there's a big rock full of buzzard wasps. I wouldn't recommend going there, but if we can get near it I can narrow down what part of the desert to look in. If that library is findable, we'll find it. We just have to find June."

-888-

They were airborne again and Azula was able to let some of her troubles flit away on the breeze. It was her opinion that finding some shady Earth Kingdom bounty hunter would take them weeks, but Sokka insisted it would take a few days at the most. He seemed to be trying to convince himself more than anyone, and she was tempted to needle him about that, but thought better of it. -Plum apples, remember?-

As the weather warmed they had little use for their heavy furs and Azula plucked at a thread on her light blue tunic, trying to keep her mind from wandering. Another reason she had not bothered Sokka about the time they were wasting was she did not want to think about it herself. Where had Zuzu been taken? The same place as the Avatar? That was a safe assumption, but where was that? She hoped it was someplace dark, damp, and lonely, but could not bring herself to wish they were in that awful nightmare city she spent her dreams in. Something about the idea of Zuzu huddled in those wretched, filth-tainted streets made her soft inside and that annoyed her.

After a few days of flying in this manner they spied a large village nestled between a young forest a long expanse of rolling foothills. Sokka bid Appa to land a few miles away from the village in the woods. Azula wanted to complain about the long walk ahead of them, but saw the wisdom in his tactic. The only qualm she voiced was over them leaving Nekka to tend the sky bison while they were away.

"What if she tries to fly off with him?" Azula asked, making no attempt to hide her words from Nekka's ears. "It's clear she's having second thoughts about being here."

"I'm not going anywhere," Nekka said, petting Appa's nose as he munched on some grass. "Like you said, those cult people will be after me, and besides, if you fail at this I'll be just doomed as anyone else."

"If we fail. You think there's some other outcome?"

"If you don't, why are you here?" Nekka asked, more boldly than expected.

"We're all here because we all think there's at least a slim chance we can win," said Sokka as he counted the tokens in his coin purse. "Azula, leave her alone and let's go. Let me do the talking. It's not likely we'll find June here, but maybe someone has seen her."

She had been about to wound him with a remark when something rippled over his face. It was there and gone in an instant, but it made her swallow what she was about to say and watch him as he fastened his coin purse to the inside of his tunic. Had he heard something? She certainly had not.

As they walked, her anger came back and she went slightly ahead of him with the full intention of doing any and all talking that needed to be done. The road was dusty, and those people who had halted work during the hottest part of the day were now returning to their labor, sweaty and tired. When they were in the village proper, Azula, who was on the lookout for frog-faced people, noted she and Sokka were attracting a fair number of curious stares.

"We stick out remarkably well, don't you think?" she whispered to him. "Perhaps we should purchase some Earth Kingdom style clothing. I prefer them to these rags."

"We don't have money for that," said Sokka. "And the only one who looks out of place here is you."

"Why didn't you suggest I stay and guard the buffalo?" she asked, unmasked irritation in her voice.

"Because I still have a headache from getting my face nearly sliced off and didn't feel like arguing with you," he said. "Now, calm down and let me take care of finding June."

"I hope you've got enough in that little coin purse to pay whatever she's asking," said Azula. "A wild boar-q-pine chase in the desert isn't apt to be cheap."

Sokka sighed for an answer as they rounded a corner and went down the main street towards a row of taverns, barbers, and other shops.

They looked into the taverns, dingy places where the walls had been patched from people and rocks being thrown through them. Azula quickly grew tired of looking into these and asking the filthy people inside questions, so she remained in the street and met each unfriendly stare she got with one of her own. It was then she noticed a building quite out of place from all the others. It was built upon a large patch of loose sand and was made almost completely of high quality wood and canvass.

A slap to his arm got Sokka's attention. "That appears to be some sort of jail. And I'll bet those are wanted posters."

"A perfect hangout for a bounty hunter," said Sokka. "Let's check it out."

Sokka was about to head inside when she grabbed him. She snatched one of the posters off the bulletin board hanging outside the door and showed it to him. "We need to leave," she said.

His eyes opened wide like a lizard owl's, and he snatched a second poster from the wall. "Yep. Let's go."

Azula did not often feel panic, but it was there now, burning the back of her throat. How many people had looked at her with recognition since they had entered the village? She had been foolish to think her fair complexion and amber eyes had sparked the searching looks. No, it had been the fact they had seen her face before, listed above an obscene amount of reward money.

"Wanted Alive" the poster read in big bold characters atop a fairly decent drawing of her face. Azula dared not look at the picture while in town, but one glance had been enough to tell her it was as good a portrait as any that had been done of her. Better, perhaps, as it did not make the common mistake of adding a softness to her face that did not exist in the real thing.

The poster did contain one glaring error, though, one she was eager to ask Sokka about.

But before that, she chanced a look at her reflection in a watering trough beside an ostrich horse stable. The image was dark, but she could see the hollows in her eyes and cheeks, like something had been eating her from the inside. Her trademark bangs, well represented in the poster, were tied back with the rest of her hair in the fashion of Earth Kingdom girls.

She relaxed somewhat, but saw Sokka was anything but calm as he strained to keep from breaking into a run.

"They spelled my name wrong," Azula said. "This poster says, 'Suzi.'"

Sokka looked like he might scream. "Not now," he whispered loudly.

Azula smiled, Sokka's squirming a delight to her even amidst her confusion and apprehension.

As they went past a tack and harness shop, neither failed to note the two rough-looking men who were following them out of town. One wore a ragged, brown gi while the other was dressed in travel-worn green robe. The straw hat the latter man wore shielded the top half of his face from view, but Azula could see his mouth pulled into a thin smirk.

She looked at her wanted poster again and saw there was no mention of "Suzi" being a firebending prodigy.

Azula savored the notion of how quickly that smirk could be burnt off the man's face. Both men walked with the confidence of benders and it was a shame they would be settling this without an audience.

When they were away from town Sokka took a side path leading into the woods, away from the sky bison and Water Tribe girl. When they had gone a hundred yards or so, she and Sokka turned at the same time to face the two men. The smirking man was still smirking.

"Are you guys lost?" Sokka asked, boomerang in hand.

"We don't wish to hurt you," said the smirking man with the hat. "Your bounties are high for political reasons, not because you're a threat, so just surrender."

"Or don't. I don't mind hurting you," said the man in the gi, cracking his knuckles.

"Who put these bounties out? They're clearly fakes," said Azula.

The men laughed. "That's a new one," said the man in the gi. "Usually it's, 'That's an old poster!' or 'That's not me, you've got the wrong person!' The bounty is legit, kid."

"It's true, the bounty posting system is well-regulated," said the one in the hat. "Which is why what we're about to do to you is perfectly legal, given the violent resistance you've put up."

He slid his foot forward and threw his arm up as if delivering an uppercut to an opponent directly in front of him. A pillar of stone shot from the ground in front of Sokka who stood some twenty feet away, hitting him in the chest and knocking him backward.

While this happened, the man in the gi raised his palms in a forward sweeping gesture, making the ground in front of him all the way to Azula roil.

It was a weak attack meant to scare her and possibly knock her off balance. She took in a breath and let it out while extending her arm, from which a long cone of blue fire came billowing towards the two earthbenders. It hit the man with the gi in the chest and knocked him off his feet.

Her delight in seeing the hat man's smirk crumble propelled her into a series of whirling, dance-like movements that closed the distance between them. He did his own dance, throwing his arms up to create pillars of stone that shielded him from her attacks and tried to hit her as well.

Azula's spinning technique was designed to counter the earthbender's trick. Her feet and fists wreathed in flame, she struck the thin stone pillars with enough force to shatter them and send heated rocks flying at her enemy's face.

His last effort to stop her was to raise a wall of stone beneath her and throw her back, but she rolled over the top as it came up and used the height he had given her to build up more force for a downward swing of her heels. Each flaming heel came down on a shoulder, robbing his arms of their bending power and sending him to the ground.

She rolled backward onto her feet and was after him before he could recover. Grabbing his hat, she pulled it down, driving his head up through it. Using it like a collar, she spun him around so he was between her and where the man in the gi had fallen.

He was nowhere to be seen. Thinking he had run off, she wreathed her right hand in flame and was about to give the man she held something permanent to remember her by when an arm slipped around her throat and squeezed it like a vice, cutting off her wind and slowing the blood flow to her head. She gave the hat man a savage kick to the back that sent him sprawling, but it took more of her strength than she had anticipated.

"A firebender, eh?" said the man in the gi. "I was just going to dust you up a little, but now I think I'll see just how widely the bounty office will interpret 'alive.'"

Black spots were appearing before her when she heard a wet thunk. The man's grip on her went slack and she sunk to her knees as he fell away from her. Coughing, she forced air into her lungs and waited for the dizziness to pass.

By the time she recovered, Sokka had bound the man in the hat with the ropes the men had intended to use on them and was worrying over the limp form of the man in the gi.

Azula loomed over the hat man, letting him see the blue fire ball she toyed with in her palm. "That was sloppy. I take it you two are rookies?"

The man's lips curled and he stared at her as if his eyes could wound. "You're the talk of bounty hunters everywhere," he said. "You won't last much longer, not with the money being offered for you!"

"Who put the bounty out?" Azula asked.

"I don't know. It went through the bounty office. You can be turned over to the authorities anywhere in the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation."

"The bounty office?"

"It's one of the things Zuko worked on with the Earth King after that trouble with the colonies," said Sokka. "They created the Bounty Office. You want to put a bounty out, you pay the office, the office puts out the posters and distributes the money. You need a license to be a bounty hunter, though."

"Which I have," said the man in the hat.

"Shut up!" shouted Azula. "If you don't want to get cooked along with your boyfriend here, I suggest you tell me where a certain bounty hunter is. We're looking for her."

"Forget it," said Sokka, holding his chest where the rock had hit him. "She's the last person we want to meet now."

"All we need is her animal," said Azula. "And I can be persuasive."

"You must be talking about June," said the hat man. "With money like that on your head, she'll probably find you."

"Good point," said Azula, letting her flame dampen before making it flare again. "And so will every other scumbag on this continent who doesn't have a proper job, which means it's best you don't go telling any tales."

"Azula!" Sokka shouted. "Leave him alone."

She frowned and took small pleasure in seeing he had realized his error. "For the last time, it's pronounced 'Suzi,' idiot. Do you want to be fending off bounty hunters left and right?"

"He'll keep his mouth shut if he wants another crack at the money," said Sokka. "Isn't that right, Bounty Hunter Guy?"

"The name is Lo Mu, and yes, that's right." Lo Mu beamed up at Azula, thinking logic would protect him.

Azula doused her flames and wondered if her time in the asylum had made her weak or foolish. -I should kill them both and make him sorry for arguing with me,- she thought as she worked to bind Lo Mu more securely, along with the man in the gi. Sokka had not killed him, but the lump on his head was impressive and they decided not to tie him as tightly, figuring he would free himself and Lo Mu in a few hours when he woke up in the woods.

Perhaps thinking his skin still needed saving, Lo Mu told them where June had last been seen. It was not far from where they were, which made the walk back to Appa and Nekka a fast one.

Nekka's pale face and her wide, watery gray eyes greeted them on their return. Sokka told her about what had happened with the bounty hunters. Azula laid back on the rear of Appa's saddle, deciding she would wait until she was bored before asking about the name on her wanted poster.

To be continued...


	9. Night Terrors

The spot Sokka picked to wait for June was a bare hilltop set above a steep, rocky incline and ringed on one side by a thick strip of trees that formed a barrier between the rocky ground and the rolling scrub land that would bleed into the Si Wong Desert to the west. The spot afforded them a view of the village in the distance as there was no way anyone could approach them unseen. Even at night it would be a challenge, as Sokka observed after they spent their first evening there.

The next day wore on and all the while Sokka expected questions from Azula about Suzi but none came. -She enjoys your discomfort,- he thought.

Had he thought that? He was not sure. What weighed on his mind the most was the time that was rolling by, and he also dreaded questions about how long they would wait for June before giving up and taking a different tack.

The sky was a ring of purple topped with dark blue, fading to black when Sokka sat down from gathering firewood. He asked Nekka for help changing his head bandage. Before the girl could move, Azula jumped up from where she sat across their as-yet unlit campfire. "I'll do it, she'll just muck it up."

"I...fine," said Nekka, moving aside so Azula could change the bandage.

Sokka had not needed much help, but after a hard slap to his hand he let Azula do as she wished. His only complaint was she could not seem to satisfy herself with the job and kept redoing it until finally he wiggled away from her. "It's fine, thanks," he said.

"Ingrate. The wound may be well on its way to healing, but the danger of infection is still there. And don't blame me if your ear heals crooked."

With a loud sigh, Nekka got up. "I'm going to get more firewood," she said and stormed off towards the trees where the darkness was gathering like cobwebs. Sokka considered calling her back, but decided to let her go.

"She's becoming a bit of a third wheel," said Azula.

Sokka rubbed his face and felt weary. Years of sleeping in a bed had not made the return to camping life kind to his back and his chest still hurt from the fight with the bounty hunters. "I'd be dead without that herb she found," he said.

"Yes, but what has she done lately?"

He looked at her, unsure if that was a joke. Something like good humor had come over her and he was not surprised when she finally asked, "Why did my wanted poster say my name was Suzi? Hard to imagine it was a misprint."

Sokka tried to imagine all the ways in which she could use the truth to plot treachery, but given the trouble they were already in he could think of no reason to withhold the secret. "Suzi is the name of the girl impersonating you," Sokka said, grinning as a thought came to him. "You two look so much alike I thought Ozai must have..."

"Finish that sentence and you'll need more bandages," she said, her hands and arms coming alive with blue flames.

He waved her off and the flames died. "But really, it's freaky how much she looks like you. I mean, anyone who knows you wouldn't be fooled, but your uncle said he could coach her."

"And this was all to prevent me from regaining control of the Fire Nation after my brother went missing?" Azula said. "How petty."

"Maybe. I think what's petty is we're trying to do this all on our own. I should have brought my sister with us to the Northern Water Tribe and we all should have told Chief Arnook what was really going on. Misso might have backed us up and he'd still be alive. We also wouldn't be on the run, which is going to make this a lot harder."

"It can't be helped now," she said. "What's bothering me is what's happening in the Fire Nation."

"What do you mean?" He leaned forward, feeling like he had let something slip. His entire body was a series of aches, it would not surprise him that his mind was dull.

"I may not be an expert on what clothing costs, but I know a king's ransom when I see one and that's what's being offered for our bounties. And seeing as how it went through the official bounty office, or whatever the stupid thing is, that means the money was paid up front."

"So?" He thought he knew where she was going with this, but could not make the leap.

"So, dummy, either a dirty cult of fish-eyed idiots has quite the rainy day fund, or someone with serious finances put out that bounty. Someone with access to a king's ransom, or a Fire Lord's."

"You think your uncle put out the bounty?"

"No, fool. Why would he? That letter sent to the Water Tribe was a fake, but this bounty is something else. You remember what that bounty hunter said about it being high for political reasons? I don't know what he meant by that, but given the money on the line and how official this Bounty Office is supposed to be, it raises more than a few questions."

"It couldn't have come from the Fire Nation," Sokka said. "Let's say it did, Iroh and the others would know, right?"

She threw up her hands. "Maybe dear uncle isn't in charge anymore, who knows? Maybe this Suzi girl isn't who you thought she was and is taking advantage of the situation. Maybe the Bounty Office was simply swindled, there's no way to tell!"

Sokka's head was humming. She was right, something was quite wrong and by the looks of it the problem was coming from the Fire Nation, the one place he thought the loose ends had been tied down. "Maybe...someone in the government is with the cult, or being controlled somehow. This just seems like a dumb way to go after us," he said.

Azula's evil smile was something he was glad was not being directed at his misfortune. "Perhaps our enemy's minions are not as well coordinated as we've given them credit for."

"The left tentacles don't know what the right tentacles are up to," said Sokka, pleased with his remaining wit. "Do you think Cthulhu himself knows you're Azula and not Suzi?"

Her smile left her face and she began to play with her hands, casting quick glances at the woods. "He knows my name," she said. "He says it when he truly wishes to torment me."

"You have those dreams every night," he said. "They look bad."

"They're worse than they look," she said, her face tightening. "Please, I don't like to think about them when I'm awake if I don't have to."

He was caught off guard by the "please," and noted her anger at the slip, a sign of weakness. He almost let it go, but instead he leaned towards her. "Look, I get it. I mean, I don't have it as bad as you, but..."

"Spare me your pity," she hissed.

"Pity and sympathy aren't the same thing," he said. "Whatever. I'm gonna go find Nekka. I don't think a fire is a good idea, at least until the shirshu-less bounty hunters give up searching the area and move on."

He saw she had turned red and was thinking of something nasty to say, but he managed to get far enough away in silence to where she would have to shout which she did not seem inclined to do.

The trees were coated in night and the sky was the color of a bruise. Sokka's head throbbed in between breaths and he wondered how bad his ear would look when it was fully healed. It was good to care about things like that, he thought. It meant some part of him thought it would matter later and it kept him from thinking about his friends and where they might be. He hoped he would not dream about them, that his nighttime vignettes would not reveal anything about what had happened to them. It was better not knowing unless he could do something about it.

Nekka was sitting on a log at the edge of a cluster of trees with her back to him, her blue tunic and hat like a strange pine tree. "Hey," he said, getting no response besides quiet sobbing. "I don't think we should be split up for too long. Bounty hunters are the least of our worries."

Nekka let out one sharp sob and nodded. "Give me another minute," she said.

"No problem. Look, for what it's worth I'm sorry about all of this."

"It's not your fault," she said, her voice clearing. She took off her hat and shook it before returning it to her head. "I just can't stand that girl. Why is she so mean?"

"She's been through a lot," he said.

"So have you," Nekka said, rubbing her eyes before turning around.

"Well, her dad was Fire Lord Ozai, and her mother wasn't there for here much, according to her, and..." He let out a sigh. "Yeah, she's pretty mean, but she's mean to everybody. Don't take it personal."

"I think she's dangerous, too," said Nekka.

"It's one of her better qualities, unfortunately."

Sokka turned towards their camp in time to see a flash of blue. He cursed, thinking Azula had decided to light the campfire against all reason and sense, but then there was another flash and a charge of adrenaline pumped through his brain.

"Come on, quick!" he shouted, drawing his boomerang and running to towards the flashes of fire.

He did not look to see if Nekka was behind him. She would be safer back there anyway. The night had drawn up quickly and he was able to see Azula bathed in the light of her blue flames, leaping and twirling in an open area not far from their campsite. Someone was fighting her, and he could see Appa farther off, near the tree line locked in a battle of his own with some colossal dark shape. A whip cracked the air.

"June!" he shouted. "June! Stop!"

"Hey, your boyfriend's here," June said, snapping her whip at Azula's feet, who jumped backward out of its reach.

In the light of dozens of tiny fires, Sokka saw that Azula was not having an easy time keeping June at bay. Her nose was bleeding and she had broken a sweat. June, a flickering shape in the dark, seemed none the worse for wear, but the smell of burnt hair hung over them like a cloud.

"June, will you just listen for a second, then we can go back to fighting, okay?"

June's whip coiled around his wrist and with a hard pull yanked him off balance. She was fast, too fast for him to get away from her before she pulled him the rest of the distance between them. He tried to duck under her, but she jerked him off balance and caught him in a reverse headlock with the crook of her elbow over his windpipe.

She flashed a blade before holding it against Sokka's ribs, freezing him. He struggled against her, but her thin muscles were like hard ropes. "Easy, fire-girl, unless you want lover boy here to get it," she said.

Azula stopped and for a moment Sokka thought he would die in a cone of blue fire along with June.

"Go ahead and stab him. He's had worse," Azula said.

"Whoa, when have I had worse!?" Sokka shouted.

June pulled him close and stuck the knife in his side just enough to make him cry out. "I'm serious. The bounty on you alone is enough for me to retire on."

"The bounty is bogus," croaked Sokka. "That's not even her name on the poster. Just let me explain."

"Nyla! Good boy!" shouted June as the shirshu came running up behind Azula. Sokka saw a white shape lying still in the distance and struck June's forearm with his fists. It was likely the bison was only temporarily paralyzed from the shirshu's poisonous tongue barbs, but he was furious all the same.

The shirshu's tongue flashed like a whip, and Sokka thought that would be it for Azula, but instead she twirled so the long appendage missed her by inches, then shot herself into the air with a blast of fire. Azula landed on the shirshu's back where she clung to its fur and ignited her free hand in a searing cone of blue flame.

"Stop!" June shouted. "Nyla, freeze!" The shirshu ceased its frantic bucking, and now it shook with rage and fear, its star-shaped nose quivering in the night air.

"Let the Water Tribe boy go, or your pet monster gets its nose burned off," Azula shouted.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"She totally would," said Sokka. "Look, June, she won't hurt Nyla if I tell her not to, which I'll do if you just agree to hear me out."

June squeezed his arm and brought her knife to his throat. "Fine, but if she so much as singes a hair, you'll last about two seconds, got it?"

She kicked him away and he fell to the ground. He got up and waved his hands at Azula. "Get down, let's talk," he said.

"No," said Azula. "We have the advantage, we should press it."

"Azula!" Sokka shouted, expecting a knife to appear in his back. It did not, and to his surprise and immense relief Azula's flames disappeared and she jumped off the shirshu's back.

Nyla sensed the fight was over and did not attack, but his growls were steady and aimed at Azula. Sokka looked at the beast's claws and saw no white fur or blood.

"I need to check on Appa," Sokka said.

"I'll go!" shouted Nekka, running up. June did not seem surprised to see her and Sokka wondered how long she had been watching the camp.

"He's just temporarily paralyzed," said June. "Nyla's instincts are to capture, not kill."

"Maybe we should go sit down," Sokka said. "What we have to say is going to take a while."

"That's too bad," said June. "Because you've got five minutes before Nyla and I take you both down."

Sokka held up a finger and collected his thoughts. He explained that Aang had been kidnapped by sea monsters acting on behalf of an evil spirit called Cthulhu, and it was likely the Fire Lord and their friends had met the same fate. He told her about the cult and the flying monsters, then about the book they were after and where they thought it could be found.

"Which is why we were actually the ones looking for you all along," Sokka said, knowing he sounded like a madman. "We want Nyla's help sniffing out that library."

June said nothing, letting Sokka wilt in the cloud of insanity he had spouted. Her ringing laugh cracked the air like her whip. "Either you've been drinking from the cacti that grow around here or you think I'm stupid."

"I know how it sounds, and that's why we've kept it to ourselves," said Sokka. "If I was lying, don't you think I'd have a better story?"

"Seeing as how the Fire Lord and his entourage came back a week or so ago, yeah, I think your story could be much better."

Sokka was suddenly aware of the night being filled with the sounds of chirping insects, night birds, and other nocturnal callers. Nyla had stopped growling. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

June's sigh was almost a snarl. "The Fire Lord and the ones who went looking for the Avatar came back days ago. It was Fire Lord Zuko himself who commissioned the bounty on you two. Story is you killed the Avatar, took his bison, and ran off."

Sokka thought he was going to pass out. It was Azula's derisive snort that brought him upright again. "Well that's a lie. Clearly the rumor mill becomes distorted this far from the capital."

"I talked to Zuko in person. He said I'd be paid a bonus if I brought you directly to him," June said.

Sokka shook his head, his wound making him dizzy. "That's impossible," he said.

"It would explain a lot of things," said Azula.

Still shaking his head, Sokka conceded to himself that he had no idea what Cthulhu was truly capable of and felt foolish for doubting its power. -But,- he thought. -But then Zuko, or whoever it is, put Suzi's name on the bounty, not Azula's.-

"June, what's that girl's name?" he asked.

"What?

"The firebender here, can you tell me her name?"

June sighed. "Suzi, or something like that. Look, if you're done I'd like to get back to fighting so I can get some sleep tonight."

"There's no way the real Zuko would be fooled by Suzi," said Sokka. "June, was there anything different about Zuko that you noticed?"

June cast her whip behind her, preparing to strike. "He seemed fine to me," she said, her eyes black pits on her round, olive face. "Princess Azula didn't look so hot, though, but I guess being in an asylum for a few years will do that to you."

"I'm Princess Azula. I would think my firebending abilities prove it."

June's whip moved in the dust behind her like a snake. Nyla growled, his powerful claws digging into the dirt. Sokka adjusted his grip on his boomerang and hoped Nyla would not tag him with his tongue before he could knock June out with a well-timed throw while she was distracted by the lightning that was sure to be coming her way soon.

"It doesn't really matter who you are, kids. Fact is, when I turn you over to Zuko I'm going to be rich. Even if your stupid story is true, I don't care."

Her whip came for Sokka, cracking in front of his face. Azula did not attack June, but instead spread a line of fire on the ground between her and the shirshu, blocking its tongue attack but not its charge.

-Azula can handle Nyla, I just need to keep June busy,- Sokka thought.

June was employing the same strategy, keeping him busy while counting on Nyla to come out on top against Azula. The shirshu's thick fur and constant attacks protected it from the worst of Azula's flames and left the firebender with not enough time to preform the motions required to create a lightning bolt powerful enough to stop the giant beast. Still, Azula was nimble and full of energy. She seemed to have shaken off the withering effects of her confinement and was fighting like her old self, which Sokka could not help but find terrifying despite being on her side.

"June, I can prove what we're saying is true, I just need a little time," he said, dodging her whip when he could, and swatting it from the air with his boomerang when he could not. She was keeping away from him, wearing him down until she could get in close and disable him. Hopefully not fatally, he thought.

"We can pay you double later if you help," he said, out of ideas.

Something suddenly hit him in the back, and he fell forward. Whatever was on top of him was lifting him upward. He heard June's cry of surprise then the crack of her whip. "Let go! He's mine!"

He screamed when he saw what had grabbed him. It was a mass of claws and tiny hooks wrapped in leathery skin. The thing that held him had been latched onto by another creature, which was free to flap its patagia and raise him into the air. Azula had been attacked as well, and was being taken up.

Nyla leaped, catching Azula's feet in his teeth. She shouted in pain, but Sokka had his own troubles to focus on. He was caught in a tug-of-war between the monster and June, whose whip had coiled around his ankle. Sokka threw his head back, trying to strike the creature in what might have been its face, but to little avail.

Sokka heard a splash and the sound of water freezing. He fell to the ground and saw Nekka had returned. His hip hurt from the fall, his head felt like it had broken open.

lightning bolts were now flying freely and strange creatures were hitting the ground. The one that had held Sokka was still on top of him, and he struggled to get free of it as June attacked it with her blade. It thrashed about, but the knife was not having the desired effect on it. Sokka suddenly felt his legs go cold and he could not move them.

"Sorry!" Nekka shouted.

The lightning bolts had stopped, and the creature was pried off him. Azula sent a bolt into its body and it twitched before falling still. The ice that held his legs was not strong and crumbled easily, allowing him to stand.

As he caught his breath and held his head while it pounded him with pain, he watched June's face go from curiosity, to revulsion, then finally to horror. Azula held her hand up with a flickering blue flame, making sure June could get a thorough look at the dead creatures.

They were of the same ilk that attacked them over the northern sea. Sokka could make no better sense of them now than he could then. They looked as if someone had plagiarized nature with the intent of mocking it. Their bodies were covered in all manner of hooks, small tentacles, and suckers. These allowed one to hold a captive while another would latch on, carrying its fellow like a bag.

Sokka noted a long, tube-like organ near their heads that made him think, -Nose.- Above that was a set of black orbs, like insect eyes, but he had to look away when he saw two orbs set next to one another, their dead irises and pupils having not completely rolled back into their sockets.

"W-what...what in the name of..." June was rubbing her arms, keenly aware she had touched one of the things in the battle.

"Star-spawn," said Nekka. "Servants of Cthulhu."

June shook her head and rested herself against Nyla who had come up behind her. She was caught between wanting to turn away from the dead creatures and not wanting them behind her unattended.

"Well, does this change things or are we fighting again?" asked Sokka.

June composed herself and tossed a loose strand of hair out of her pale face. Her eyes were black holes in the dark, but Sokka could see them darting between him, Azula, and the things. "I don't know. These things are just..."

"They don't belong here," said Azula. "They don't belong anywhere in this world, just look at them."

Sokka was happy to hear his own sentiments expressed by another. There was no way to describe the star-spawn, as Nekka called them, that conveyed the sense of wrongness one got from looking upon their still forms. Even the Old Ones, and to a lesser extent the shoggoths, seemed normal by comparison.

He noted the creatures seemed to be shriveling, losing their horrid forms and becoming featureless, shrinking masses.

"Okay," said June, watching them melt. "They're ugly alright, but not so ugly the bounty on you two doesn't still look good."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Sokka.

"Hold your ostrich horses, kid. They are ugly enough to buy you that time you wanted to plead your case."

"Good," said Sokka, looking across the clearing to Appa, who was still like a pile of late-season snow. The bison appeared to be on his feet, making Sokka breathe easier. "Let's move our camp into the woods over by Appa. I don't want to be out in the open anymore."

This thought was shared by all, and to make the move quicker even June aided them in getting under cover. Sokka let himself shudder at the notion of what might have happened had the star-spawn attacked them before June had.

-Somehow they're tracking you,- he thought. -If I only knew where they were being sent from I could take a guess at when their next attack might be.-

-You'll never learn that. Best assume the worst.-

He jolted at that last thought, wondering where it had come from. It felt like someone had spoken to him, but all he heard was his inner voice.

Sokka put those thoughts aside, for he was quite keen to hear more about what was happening in the Fire Nation from June. She, however, wanted to hear their story again, and in more detail. After Appa recovered from the shirshu's poison, they reestablished their camp under the cover of the forest. There, Sokka told June what he knew.

"So you're going to defeat this Cthulhu-thing with some old book you think is buried in the desert and you need me and Nyla to help you find it?" June was leaning against a tree, her expression unreadable in the dark. Sokka's night vision had returned and he could make out her outline but little else. Her arms were crossed and she still seemed unimpressed by his tale. "And let me guess, you don't have any money now, but you'll pay me when this is all over?"

Sokka let out a long sigh, prepared to beg if he had to. He knew it would not work, but he had to be able to say he tried. "Yeah, that's pretty much it," he said.

Azula had said nothing so far. He could feel her behind him in the shadows, preparing to do who-knew-what.

"I gotta say, kid, if it hadn't been for those flying creatures and the fact that your two friends here are backing you up on this I'd have you on the back of Nyla right now."

"So you'll help!?" Sokka said, his mood suddenly brightening.

"Slow down, that desert isn't a joke. I've done you and your crew little favors before, but I don't do danger on credit."

"We don't have much money on us, but maybe we could...I dunno, help you on a bounty job? All proceeds go to you, of course?"

"I work..."

"Forget it," Azula said, airily. "Sokka, you're talking to a mercenary, someone who only understands money. If she understood the greater implications of what's happening, she'd work for free."

"Azula..." Sokka could see no reason to call her off besides the thin wisp of hope he was clinging to that he could still sway June.

Azula, walked between Sokka and June. The air had become heavy and both the sky bison and shirshu moved restlessly between the trees. Where Nekka had gone, Sokka did not know.

"I've only got one question for our bounty hunting friend," said Azula.

"And what's that, Sparky?" asked June.

If Azula had bristled at the nickname, she did not show it either in her body or voice. "Where do you stand on what we just said to you? Do you believe us, or not?"

"You're not lying, that much is clear. You're not completely nuts, either. I guess I'm just very confused."

"It's not that confusing," said Azula. "It's very simple, really. Something very old that has been asleep for a very long time has become restless and is close to waking up. When he wakes up, life as we know it ends. That book buried out there in the desert is our only chance, and the only way we'll ever see it is if we have your help."

"How come you didn't tell this to anyone else?" June asked.

"Because it sounds crazy," said Sokka. "You saw those things with your own eyes and you still don't believe us."

"Plus, some things are better off secret," said Azula. "When you were at the Fire Nation was there anything else strange? Anything you might have missed?"

"Now that you mention it, that dirty old man who always hung around the Fire Lord was nowhere to be seen. I asked about him but no one would give me a straight answer," said June, stroking her chin.

"Iroh," said Sokka, taking a deep breath to steady his swimming head. If some kind of imposter-Zuko had returned, Iroh was not apt to have been fooled by him. "Did you see anyone else that used to hang around with Avatar Aang? My sister, maybe? A blind earthbender?"

"No, I don't think so," said June. "It wasn't really a social call."

"We'll worry about what's happening in the Fire Nation later," said Azula. "Right now we need that book. If you help us, I can guarantee you'll be adequately rewarded. I'm a princess, you know."

June touched her chin before smiling. "I want double the bounties posted on you," she said. "And I want that in writing."

"Deal," said Azula, prudently waiting a few moments to respond. "We leave in the morning."

"Slow down, princess, I didn't come prepped for a trek across the Si Wong and neither did you. We'll need water. A lot of water, mainly for Nyla and your sky bison. Three days is as long as I'll look, and that includes the time it takes to leave the desert."

"We only need you to find the library. After that, where you go is your own business," said Azula.

Sokka felt relieved, despite a few logistical problems he foresaw. He clapped his hands together all the same to seal the deal. "Great, June's on board and all we need is a lot of water, which we'll start getting first thing tomorrow, right Nekka?"

He had seen her move, somewhere close to Appa beyond the firelight.

"Right," Nekka said.

"And I don't need to tell you that what was said here, stays here. Provided you want your payment," said Azula.

"Pfft. I'd have to understand it to be able to repeat it, plus I think you're going to learn that keeping a lid on things is tougher than you think. Good night, kids. It's been a long one and I'd advise you post a watch."

Sokka thought that was good advice.

To be continued...


	10. Water Skins

Sokka awoke thinking he had been dreaming about the Day of Black Sun. It had been a common recurring dream of his since the war had ended, but had become rarer as time wore on. Every so often it would return to him, never quite becoming a true nightmare. Since his encounter on the beach, however, none of his dreams had been normal and it was nice to pretend this one had not been about him inhabiting the body of a monster.

Only that was not true; he could not deny it. Why the faded dream had felt like a Black Sun dream, he could not say, for he did not remember it. -People worry too much about dreams anyway,- he thought.

-You should worry about them more.-

He sat up quickly, wanting to ask who had thought that, but he knew it had been him. Or had it?

Aware he was being watched, he made a show of yawning and looked over a small cook fire to see Azula wide awake and starring at him. The smoke made it hard to tell if she was scowling at him or had something else on her mind.

Nekka was in the process of waking up while June was on her feet and using a nearby tree to assist with her morning stretches.

"Now that the waterbender is awake we can get to work," said Azula.

"Maybe we should eat first," he said.

She rolled her eyes for a reply and he broke out their eating utensils. With Nekka's help, Sokka made some spiced rice and beans. June joined them, smelling his cooking before she ate it and nodding in approval at the taste.

"It gets old after a while," said Azula.

"Hey, this here's real food. Not that fancy stuff royals eat," said Sokka, taking a bite.

"I suppose it is better than prison food," Azula said.

"Prison food," Sokka grumbled, and they continued their meal in silence. He thought the beans had come out a little tough and the rice was wetter than it needed to be, but the spicing was perfect. As he was trying to determine what was causing the smokey after-taste, he noticed Azula appeared to have started a staring contest with June.

"Something wrong, Sparky?" June asked.

"I was just thinking that being a bounty hunter must not pay very much," Azula said, her back stiffening at the nickname.

"The pay is outstanding, actually."

"Have you been doing it for a long time?"

"Years," June said. "And if you've got a crack about my age, I suggest you stow it. You're half my age and look like you've got one foot in the grave."

Sokka felt as though he had just taken too long to notice a grass fire and did not know if he should stamp it out or run. All he could think was that June's comment had been unfair. Azula looked much better since leaving the asylum, even if her eyes did sport dark circles from lack of sleep.

"I didn't mean to strike a nerve," said Azula, stirring her food. "You shouldn't be sensitive about your age. Worried, perhaps, but not sensitive."

"Okay. Let's do this," June said, setting her bowl down and getting to her feet. She uncoiled her whip almost casually, but there was nothing casual about how she was standing. Sokka jumped up as Azula did and stood between the two women.

"Wow, how the morning can slip away! Azula, Nekka, maybe you guys should take a few skins and find a good place to fill 'em. I'll come along after ya."

"Why don't you and your little tribal friend go yourselves? June and I have something to finish up." She set her hand on his shoulder and tried to push him aside, but he did not budge.

"Not happening," said Sokka, stepping towards her, making her back up. He brought his face close to hers and hoped he would come off as a co-conspirator, not someone trying to intimidate her. He was in trouble if she felt threatened. "I don't know what your problem is today, but do the smart thing and take a walk while I smooth this over."

He knew if he flinched this would not work, she would go through him to get to June. "Fine," Azula hissed, jabbing Sokka hard in the shoulder with her finger. "But if she thinks she can talk down to me, I'll show her, and you. Girl! Let's go. Quickly."

He gave Nekka a sorry smile and watched her gather up some skins, then shuffle meekly behind Azula through the hazy woods towards the distant rush of water. Sokka waited until they were out of sight, and when he turned to June he saw she had resumed her breakfast.

"So, you got a thing for Sparky, or what?" June asked, pointing with her chopsticks to the trees in the direction the benders had gone.

"N-no! No way! Her?" He made a show of having the shivers. "That's crazy. What gave you that idea?"

"I'm a woman, I can tell. Plus that's the story that's been put out from the Fire Nation capital, only her name is supposed to be Suzi or something. Weren't you sweet on a Kyoshi Warrior named Suzi?"

"Suki," said Sokka. "She's one of the people missing."

"Really? I thought I saw her around when I was there, but it's hard to tell Kyoshi Warriors apart. I think for that Suki girl's sake she should stay missing."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

June twirled her chopsticks as she finished off a mouthful of food. "You say you don't have it for Sparky, but Sparky has it for you. She's got a funny way of showing it, but let's put it this way, I'd hate to be a woman anywhere near you." Her exasperated smirk over her breakfast was difficult to argue with.

Sokka rubbed his hands together, having felt a chill radiating down his arms from his chest. "I don't know, she was in an asylum for three years, I think she's just maladjusted or something."

"That may be, but I know a natural-born bitch when I see one. You should go after her."

"Say what now?"

"You won't find many like her. She wants you, you want her, go for it. Make a pass, see what she does."

"She'll blow my heart out of my chest with a bolt of lightning," Sokka said, his cheeks warming to counter the cold in his middle. "She's tried to kill me and my friends, my family..."

June shrugged and set her plate down. "During the war, right? War's over, kid."

"No, it..." he curled his lips inward. The war was over, wasn't it? It had been over for a long time. "You don't know her. She's sneaky, scheming, cruel..."

"Strong, determined, smart. Granted she's still a total hornet badger, and crazy, but she's royalty, right? That makes up for a lot."

Mad, half-formed thoughts were prancing between Sokka's ears, tearing at him with black claws and trying to fly away on dark wings. Insane, stupid, fantastical thoughts that made his good ear flush red. He took a breath and bit by bit put his outer self back to normal. "Look, I just don't want you to let her get to you. What we're doing out here is no joke and we need you for it to work out."

June smiled with one side of her mouth and shook her head. "Sparky doesn't have it in her to offend me that badly. I was just going to teach her some manners with a light flogging, that's all."

"In all seriousness, it wouldn't be a good idea to cross her. She's easily the world's strongest firebender."

Shaking her head slowly, June tossed her hair from her face and redid her top knot which was held together with a skull-shaped pin. "Sorry kid, you got it bad for her. I doubt anyone else could have made her back down from a fight like you just did."

"Whatever," said Sokka, rubbing the back of his neck and wishing he could stop blushing.

His mind had other ideas, though. It had been a struggle to keep his thoughts on the mundane tasks before him, to focus completely on the present and not go mad over the future. Sokka's inner theater had been slipping as of late. He now fought nebulous visions of being in a submarine as it cruised over the sunken, winding streets of R'lyeh as it festered at the bottom of the ocean or wherever it was. When he pictured his friends he could only see them as floating, glassy-eyed still forms. Dead, but dreaming.

The thoughts he had now about Azula, while equally mad and more ethereal were a welcome reprieve and he let himself be taken down that path, away from the cold emptiness and into a place of fire.

He moved away from June, lest she see his mind reflected on his face. Azula and Nekka had returned, their arms empty of water skins.

"We left the skins for you to carry," Azula said, walking in front of Nekka, whose face was bent towards where she intended to step.

They sat back down and Sokka made everyone tea. Azula had become larger, her every move something to track and take note of. He could see June's ghost of a simper, and diverted his attention to Nekka. She was upset, but no damage had been done.

June finished her tea and coiled her whip before fixing it to her hip. "We're going to need more water skins," she said, going over to Nyla and leaning against the slumbering beast's black coated hide.

"I've got money for twelve," Sokka said, searching for his coin purse. The salary he had drawn as ambassador had been modest, and most of it was back in the Fire Nation with the rest of his belongings along with with his war club.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," June mumbled. "I'll lend you enough for twelve more. Big ones. Send the mousy girl unless you two plan to fight your way out of town."

After some talk and some more of June's muttering it was decided that she and Nekka would make the run for water skins, using Nyla to haul them back. With waterbending they would be easily filled, and the expedition could begin.

"So," said Azula, when the others had left. "Any new thoughts on this business with Zuko?"

"I was going to ask you the same question," Sokka said. "You said your dreams are messages from Cthulhu, maybe you've got some idea of what he can do. Make copies of people? Take over minds?"

Her face narrowed. "I wouldn't know. I noticed you haven't been sleeping well, either. Maybe you know something," she said.

Sokka raised his eyebrow high. He knew he likely appeared fitful in his sleep, but was curious as to why she thought he was learning anything while out.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often do, and noticed you were also having something of a fit. You said two words that sounded familiar to me. "Mi-Go" and "Yuggoth," said Azula.

"And those are?"

She turned her head haughtily to the side and laughed. "I have no idea. I don't think I've ever truly heard the words before. Lets ask our resident monster expert when she gets back; hopefully she'll be good for something besides eating our food and fetching water."

Sokka responded with a disgusted sigh and looked about the camp for something to do besides talk to Azula. June's words were sticky in his mind and he felt like a self-aware drunk, knowing he was about to say something foolish yet unable to stop. He staved off this impulse by getting the water skins left by the river, but the drunk urge was still there when he was done and there was nothing to do for the camp besides wait until Nekka and June got back.

"Something bothering you?" Azula asked, intrigued by his poor attempts to ignore her.

He was scanning the blue skies for dark shapes. "Besides everything? No. I just can't stop thinking about the others."

"One obstacle at a time, just like in the mountains, remember?" she said, sounding oddly comforting. Perhaps more so than she had intended.

"What did you think of June? Aside from wanting to pick a fight with her." Sokka asked, knowing he was courting unpleasantness, but would say anything to steer this talk away from foolishness.

"She's as crude as any peasant I've ever had the misfortune to meet, but she seems capable."

"The nose on her shirshu is something else, I just hope it works in the desert."

"You should hope we don't waste our time digging up every loose scrap of paper that's gone blowing over the dunes," Azula said.

"If we don't find the book we'll have to go back to the Fire Nation and sort things out," Sokka said. "I just hope Katara is alright."

"We'll have quite a pair of family reunions. Me and what may or may not be Zuzu, and you and your sister, who I'm sure was thrilled about being left behind. Let's look her up first, it should be amusing."

Sokka frowned. She was like the wind around a campfire, fine one moment then blowing irritating smoke over him the next. "You should watch out for her, you're not her favorite person," he said.

"Pfft. I'm no one's favorite person," she said, looking between the trees where a rat squirrel was tossing up dead leaves as it fled a snake.

"Nekka was pretty quiet earlier. You weren't mean to her, were you?"

"I was the picture of civility," said Azula. She grinned, cocking her head to the side. "Soon, I may be nice to her. Sometimes you have to show how unpleasant you can be before you act nice. It makes them want to please you more."

"Wow."

"Oh, don't be self-righteous," she said. "Everyone does it, they just aren't honest about it. Go ahead and think your friends are your friends because they like you. That may be, but the reality is you just stumbled around the world until you bumped into people who shared your values. So what if I'm a little more deliberate?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess that's one way of looking at it," he said. With his head tilted back, his eyes towards the sky the blood in his head flowed into a certain part of his brain, sparking it to full life. "Question. Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Going on this stupid quest with me? You know we don't stand a chance. Sure, things are messing with you in your dreams, but we're probably headed to where those things live so they can mess with us in person. If you really hate everybody and think they hate you, then what do you get out of this?"

She stood as if attacked. "We've been over this, my survival depends on our success."

"Does it? Cthulhu sends you these dreams, why? What does he want from you?"

"To drive me mad, of course. What else?" Her lip was quivering, whether in anger or in something else it did not matter. "What are you trying to suggest, savage?"

-Ooh, she's mad now,- he thought, but did not care. A meanness had come over him to replace the chill he had been feeling and he found it easier to manage. "I was just thinking about how monsters keep finding us, your dreams, how they're really messages from Cthulhu. He hasn't made you any, I don't know, offers..."

She screamed and ran at him, diving into his chest with her shoulder. The back of his head hit the ground and he was submerged for a moment, breaking the surface only to find himself under a barrage of open-handed slaps. When he blocked them, she grabbed the front of his tunic and shook him hard, stopping only when he grabbed her by her thin, powerful wrists.

"Get off!" he shouted, trying to throw her. She did not weigh much, but her legs were like a vice around his hips. Her hands found his neck and as they squeezed he drew his boomerang. One of her hands slapped to his forearm, holding it down.

"Enough!" he said, and she stopped, keeping him held where he was, her breathing heavy, black strands of hair hanging in front of her face like cobwebs.

"Don't you ever..."

"I'm sorry," he said. "Okay, I'm sorry. I was thinking out loud, I shouldn't have said it."

"I'll never serve him. Never, do you hear me!? Never!"

"Alright, alright, I believe you! It's just, you don't make any sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sokka had thought to put up a strong front, but something told him a little cringing right now would not hurt, and so he tried to sink himself deeper into the loam of the forest floor. No fire had appeared yet, but his neck and left jawline stung from where her nails had grazed him.

"I just wanted to know why you came along. You seemed so down on everything, it's like you don't think there's a point in fighting but here you are."

She relaxed her grip on his arm and neck, but remained on top of him, studying his face. "What does it matter to you?" she asked.

"It matters," he said. "When I was with Aang and my sister, and Toph, we all knew why we were there, and we could all talk to each other. It made what we had to do doable. I don't know how to explain it...you're just hard to talk to is all I'm saying."

He no longer had any idea what he was saying and was babbling; not from fear, for if she conjured fire he knew a hard punch to her unprotected stomach with his free hand would save him.

No fire came and instead she slid off him, taking a seat in the loam by his side. "Well of course talking is hard, we don't have anything decent to talk about. All we have in common is monsters and hardship."

"There's...other stuff, probably," he said.

"No there isn't," she said.

"Come on, let's think. Uh, ooh, I know. The Ember Island Players, Zuko said your whole family would go see them every year. We can talk about how bad they suck."

Sunlight was beaming down on them in spots, broken and fragmented by the small-leaved trees and their branches. No breeze moved them and their tussle had put the small birds and rodents that infested the forest on silent alert.

Azula was fixing her hair, her lips pursed as she inwardly rehearsed what she was about to say. "Right before I boarded that stupid airship, I, Zuzu, and those two little traitors took a trip to Ember Island. We didn't go to the theater, but one night we ended up being invited to a party. I made the biggest fool out of myself. There was a boy there I had an eye for and I couldn't speak to him properly no matter how hard I tried. I mean, I could speak to him, but it came out like this. Stupid. I tried to tell a joke, it was horrible. We had to burn the building down."

Sokka chuckled, too late realizing that had not been a joke. Her eyes smoldered, and she moved to stand, caught in a panic. "Forget I said that. If you dare bring it up, I'll..."

"Easy, easy, I won't make fun of you," he said. "So, you're a dork is what you're trying to say?" Flames engulfed her hands. "Aah! That wasn't a jab. Relax, it's alright. I'm kind of a dork, too."

"That's not what I heard," she said, her flames going out. "The spies who managed to return information on your little group during the war all said you were known to be a charmer, someone who could get his way with both peasants and nobles."

On his feet, he brushed the loam from his clothes. "There's some truth to that, I guess, but you know it never felt like that. Sometimes I felt like the group clown, the guy who couldn't bend, that everyone laughed at and didn't really respect. For every cool thing I did, two stupid things would happen. This one time I walked into a poetry school or something and got into, I don't know, like a haiku fight with the teacher. I mean, is that even a thing? Do people..."

"I have a question for you," she said, hands on her hips. "Why are you talking to me like this? You don't like me, you've got nothing more to gain from me, what do you want?"

Sokka hoped he would see Nyla's furry body slinking through the trees before he had to answer, but the woods was slowly coming back to its normal volume, featuring chirps and creaking branches, yet no bipedal footfalls.

"I just think maybe it's time you and I got past where we've been," he said, his blushing feeding on itself, making his face burn. "I know you can be nice. Maybe around me and Nekka you can give the scary girl a break? Tone down the awful a little when it comes to her, maybe?"

She looked at him with her mouth parted slightly in astonishment. "The spies were wrong, you are one of the densest people I've ever met. I'm not some lonely girl who needs to learn how to make friends. I'm not like other people. I had friends once and I thought we were all clear on the terms of that friendship, but we weren't. I won't make that mistake again."

Sokka almost let the conversation die, for he had begun to sweat. "So you got burned by your friends, now no more friends ever? You seemed happy when I said I'd be your friend someday."

She scowled. "I thought we were doomed. Stop haranguing me."

"I'm not trying to annoy you for fun. This is what friends do for each other when one is upset, they talk." A look from her made him pause, then shrug. "Like you said, I'm the closest thing you've got to a friend. It's not perfect, but you can't tell me you think we're going to beat this squid monster thing without some kind of...I dunno...bond."

"Bond?"

"Bad word. Uh...connection? Partnership? Can we just agree we don't hate each other anymore? I'm not saying I'm going to forget anything from before, but these long journeys are tough when you have to be with people you don't like."

Sokka thought he had lost her, but her expression softened. "Very well. You're annoying, but I'll concede that I no longer hate you.

He extended his hand. "Friends?"

She sighed and clasped his hand, her palm warm against his. "Friends."

They stood in the imperfect silence of the forest, not speaking, letting their previous words settle in the loam. Appa grunted as he ate whatever vegetation he could reach while small forest animals rustled leaves and bent branches. Sokka knew these sounds well from all his time spent camping, but Azula's head turning at every loud creak of tree trunk and snapping of branch made it hard for him to relax.

He could see the clearing where they had first camped through the trees, and now he looked to see the back of Nyla poke above a stony hill crest. The shirshu was loaded with water skins, while Nekka and June walked alongside him.

"That's a lot of water skins," Sokka said.

"If we were sane we'd have a caravan of camelephants carrying all this, but we're not so here we are," said June. "Well, let's get to filling them up. I could be out making money right now."

Azula stiffened but said nothing as she helped Nekka and Sokka take the skins to the brook where Nekka bent water into them. The work was slower than expected as Nekka's skills lie more in scrolls than in bending, but by the afternoon Appa and Nyla were ready to be loaded with copious amounts of water. "Alright, let's get some lunch now then by the time we're ready with the water we'll be set to head off," said June.

"At night?" asked Sokka, testing the tie string on one of the more bloated skins.

"You've got two options in the desert," June said. "Really hot or really cold. You all look better dressed for cold, so we go at night."

Sokka nodded. He had been living the sedentary life for too long and had forgotten about the desert's secret love of cold. It was nothing compared to the south pole, but even a Water Tribesman like himself could use a blanket when the dunes were dark.

Once again they found themselves sitting around a fire, pretending they weren't looking at each other. Sokka felt no hostility now, only a keen sense of embarrassment. "Did you fall down?" June asked. "You've got some new scratches."

"Figured I'd get a little more firewood. Fell down," Sokka said. "Story of my life. You wouldn't happen to have a map, would you?"

From her boot she tossed him a crumpled piece of parchment. "I forgot it was in there," she said. "Been around as long as I have and you stop needing one."

It was a map of the Earth kingdom that included a bit of the Fire Nation as well. June's regular stomping grounds, he supposed. June showed him where they were and from that he was able to tell that it would be a day or so before they were in the Si Wong Desert itself. He told June what he remembered about the ancient library's location, mainly how it was not far from the giant buzzard wasp mound that served as the desert's magnetic center.

"Narrowing the spot down helps," said June. "But don't be surprised if we hit a few false leads. Paper might be more common out there than you think."

When their camp was cleaned, their normal gear stowed, and water skins fetched and tied, they set off towards the Si Wong Desert. Appa flew low and Sokka held his reins loose while watching the dark sky for flying terrors.

To be continued...


	11. Sand and Paper

The rocky scrub land bordering the Si Wong had gone on for miles and bled seamlessly into the sand, allowing the desert to creep up beneath them in the night. They found themselves surrounded by dunes baking in the morning sunlight, the scrub lands they had traveled over now a distant memory.

A blue, merciless sky stretched on forever above them, its color free from the taint of clouds. Sky, wind, and sand made Sokka think of the tsunami that had hit the Fire Nation. It seemed like it had happened years ago while his last trip to the Si Wong Desert now felt only weeks behind him.

The company he kept prevented his sense of nostalgia from running away with him. Azula looked listlessly out over the sand dunes while Nekka sat cross-legged at the back of the saddle, preferring her inner world to the life on Appa's back.

He sorely regretted leaving Katara behind in the Fire Nation, especially given what he had heard from June. -Katara would know to handle this,- he thought.

Most of his worries regarding his sister stemmed from knowing how she would react to his treason. She would not sit idly by in the Fire Nation, hiding while he traipsed about the world to save Aang and the others. Her first stop would be the Northern Water Tribe and he hoped they had been wrong about there still being cult members in the city, hidden in dark corners like clutches of fish eggs under rocks.

He wondered how she would explain everything to Arnook. Would she make him sound crazy? Did she think he was? No, there was the monster on the beach, remember?

-Yes, the thing nobody got a good look at aside from you, and the people who might be doppelgangers. Possibly a few soldiers, who probably thought it was a squid.-

Sokka shook his head, but not to clear it. His thoughts had been alarmingly lucid as of late, just, unfamiliar.

He peered around Appa's neck to make sure he was still on the track of June and Nyla, who bounded over shallow, hard dunes in the rising heat. June would signal a stop soon, he guessed, and did not want to lose her while deep in his own thoughts.

Something stung the back of his head. "Ow! What the...?" A small pebble was nestled between his tunic and neck. He looked back, Azula was smiling.

"Hit another bug?"

"You...where did you find a rock?"

She patted a pocket on her tunic so he could here the rattle of stones. "I knew I'd get bored up here sooner or later and that you'd throw a fit if I used fire to annoy you, so rocks it is."

He flicked the stone back at her and missed by a fair bit. With no idea of what to make of this he settled down to ponder it, but saw June was waving her coiled whip and pointing to a spot up ahead.

It was mid-morning and the sun had made even the breezy air over Appa's saddle intolerably hot. June had signaled them towards a long rock formation with an overhang that was free of shifting sand. Appa landed, and along with Nyla weighed down two large canvasses June had bought in addition to the water skins. This formed a clumsy tent against the high, stone overhang, the shade of which kept the animals from wanting to move.

Nyla was panting hard and June let the creature drink most of a large water skin while Appa consumed the other half. Sokka had long ago noted that sky bison, or at least Appa, shared some of the camelelephant's ability to go without food or water for a long period of time, but unlike them he was not immune to the desert's heat.

"You two take first watch. Me and the girl are going to catch some shut eye," said June, laying down against Nyla beneath the canvass.

"Good idea. Your age and her inexperience are liabilities," said Azula.

June responded with a loud yawn while Azula wrapped her head and face in a scarf. Sokka did the same, shielding himself from the heat and sand.

"I knew this place would be dull, but I underestimated it," said Azula, stepping closer to the rock where the sand was harder.

"I could find you some cactus juice. That would make things pretty interesting," he said, shuddering at the notion of Azula hallucinating.

"I'll pass," said Azula.

They stood in silence for a time and Sokka thought this would be a fine opportunity to see if he could have a normal conversation with Princess Azula, but shuffling sand and the flap of canvass announced the arrival of Nekka who wore a scarf around her face. She joined the other two in the shade of the rock.

"I'm not tired," said Nekka. "I couldn't sleep if I was."

"Ah, I'd almost forgotten," said Azula, her voice pleasant and unashamedly false. "Sokka was babbling in his sleep the other night and he said two things that I found rather interesting. "Mi-Go," and "Yuggoth." Are those real words, or nonsense?"

Nekka's eyes widened in the cave formed by her scarf and hat. Her fear and hatred of Azula seemed overcome by an inner swell that animated her hands. "No, no, those are things. A-and it might help explain this oddness with the Fire Lord!"

"Spit it out, then!" Azula snapped. Frowning at Sokka, she bowed. "I mean, do go on."

"Well, the Mi-Go are said to be a race of beings from the stars, like the Old Ones. They live on a world known as Yuggoth, which relatively speaking is close to our own. Now, the old writings talk about Cthulhu as being a conqueror. He conquered the Old Ones for sure, and it's possible he also enslaved the Mi-Go."

"Like he enslaved Zuko and the others?" Sokka asked. "Is it permanent?"

"Let me finish," Nekka said, scared by her own assertiveness. "Body swapping is alluded to quite heavily many times in some old texts. It's theorized there are different ways to go about it, but the Mi-Go had mastered a particular way. Perhaps Cthulhu has used it on the Fire Lord and the others?"

"Could be," Sokka said. "Will the Necronomicon tell us how to reverse it?"

"I don't know," she said.

"I hope so, because these weird dreams of mine aren't really telling me much."

Nekka bobbed her head, working herself up to say something. Sokka held his hand up for Azula to be still. "You started having these dreams after you were attacked by the Old One?" Nekka asked. "Maybe you weren't being attacked, exactly."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, one batch of crazy at a time. Back to the Mi-Go and this mind swapping stuff. How do they do it? Is it like a spirit-thing or do they literally shuffle people's brains around?"

"I don't know," said Nekka, twisting her hands. "I suspect the complete Necronomicon will have plenty to say on the subject, given what's mentioned in the fragments I've seen."

Azula covered a silent yawn with her hand, despite her mouth being behind a scarf. "In short, we won't know anything until we have that book. And, since you're not sleeping and I prefer to rest in the daylight, you and Sokka can keep watch."

She retired to the flapping tent, leaving Sokka alone with Nekka.

His ear ached and itched which he supposed was a good sign, but now he had ominous things to ponder for long hours. It must have shown on his face.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you more," Nekka said.

"What were you saying about the Old One not really attacking me?"

She bobbed her head again, working into a lather what she was going to say before she began. "The Mi-Go are masters of body exchange, but they're not the only ones who can do it. Had the Old One wanted to hurt you it would likely have done something more conventional, but instead you were put into a coma for two weeks without a mark on you, correct? Then you began dreaming of things you had never experienced before."

"Right, so you're saying it tried to take my mind and got stuck in there? Like the shoggoth did to Azula?"

"Not exactly," said Nekka. "I don't know what it did to you, or why, but you should know it's not likely the Old Ones are serving Cthulhu willingly, and they might not be entirely loyal to him."

"So, you think it might have been trying to help me? Pfft. Some help. I can't make sense of these stupid dreams even when I can remember them."

Nekka was still twisting in her uncertainty, but he could see her eyes darting, reflecting her churning thoughts. "Perhaps...perhaps you could try meditating? People like Al-Hazred claimed they learned much of what they wrote through meditation. Under the right conditions it let them talk to certain beings...maybe you could use it to remember your dreams."

"Like, what kind of conditions?"

"None I'd recommend you try, but the desert is a very spiritual place on its own, maybe doing it the normal way will be enough?"

"Alright, I'll give it a shot. Just make sure you keep an eye on the skies and be ready to make a lot of noise if you see anything that isn't a buzzard wasp. Actually, yell if you see buzzard wasps, too."

He took a blanket to the top of the rock formation and sat upon it. Sokka had never been one for meditating, much to Piandao's chagrin, but he was determined now to do it properly, come what may.

One could never truly clear their mind; this he had learned from Piandao. Meditation was not about making the mind blank and free of thoughts, but about focusing on where those thoughts came from. To do that, he simply had to relax and close his eyes, imagine himself stepping back from his body to watch images, sounds, and vaporous impressions float up from the dark void of his sub-conscience.

"Where do thoughts come from?" Piandao had asked him one day as they sat in the stone garden behind his villa.

"Uh, our heads?" Sokka had replied.

"Where are they before they spring into our heads?"

"I don't know, our minds kind of make them, I guess."

"Where does it make them? Where are the raw materials stored an assembled?"

He did not know, and said as much. Piandao did not profess any secret knowledge on the matter, but he had made Sokka aware of how his mind was layered. The waking part of himself, what he considered his entire mind, was the open area atop a vast, impenetrable darkness, the soil where his mind had taken root.

It was to the blackness that he turned his attention as the sun over the Si Wong Desert pressed down on him. He felt the wind carrying the sand from a million dunes blow across his shoulder and could see the dark field before him, his mind shining at the edges of its horizon.

There was the pain in his ear, Suki, Suzi, Azula, Aang, monsters attacking him, Wan Shi Tong attacking him, Nekka, June, Chief Arnook, the sand in his boots, the cold night, the cold ocean, the night, the moon, Yue, moonless nights, the deep ocean, the gulf of space.

The gulf of space. From earth, it looked thick with the stars but the truth was the space between those points of light was in essence an infinity, at least to those who did not know the secrets of how the world was bonded together. Sokka had gone through these gulfs before, in a body that knew those secrets. It was like falling. Distances that were long could be made short, then traversed. Speed had nothing to do with it. Where were these thoughts coming from? He pressed against the darkness like it was a blanket over water. It yielded and he pushed harder. Now there was resistance. More resistance. He slipped and was shot backward.

"Ugh!" he opened his eyes as if waking. He was back under the sun, in the sand. There was something behind him, but when he turned he saw nothing but windblown dunes rolling outward and on forever. He closed his eyes again and it was like his sweat-soaked skin was sliding into a giant glove.

Sokka saw himself sitting on the blanket atop the sand-covered rock. Behind him was something like an upright sea cucumber, barrel-shaped with a starfish head. He was back in his own body again, looking out of his own two eyes. Something was still behind him.

The sweat that poured down his face was cold. Slowly, he turned around and looked up. There it stood, it's tube-body bent forward, all five of its tooth-lined starfish arms bent forward to glare at him, giving it the aspect of a squid. From seams in its body, white tentacles uncoiled and twirled listlessly around. Some thick and sucker coated, some tipped with boney blades, others small like baby vines.

-What are you?- Sokka asked.

There was a piping noise in his mind, as if the wind were blowing a reed flute in time with a song. -A thought.-

The words were in his own voice.

-I don't have thoughts like you.-

-Still.-

-What do you want?-

-For you to succeed.-

-How? How do we beat Cthulhu?-

The piping became dissonant, and Sokka felt his head swell, threatening to burst.

-Only hinder...he wishes the power...to bend all things...to bind and bond...like Avatar...-

-Bending doesn't work like that," Sokka thought, now in immense pain. -He's wasting his time.-

-No. You must thwart him...otherwise he will bind, absorb Azathoth..."

-How do we stop him!?- Sokka felt bile churning in his stomach, pain vibrating from his head down.

-Necronomicon...his forces are scattered...moves against you even now.-

-Do you know how to stop him? What's in that book?-

-Your language. Too crude. Your thoughts...-

Sokka let out a soundless howl of frustration. The pain was crippling, different than any sensation he had experienced. -Tell me!- All the answers were there, right before him! Why could it not speak plainly, why was he in such pain?

-I am a thought.-

-Yeah, you're...-

A gust of wind blew sand into Sokka's face and he sputtered. When he opened hid eyes, the Old One was gone and he was covered in his own stinking vomit. He was no longer in pain, but the memory of it was enough to make him fall backward onto the hot sand. There he took deep breaths in through his mouth, letting them out his nose. He needed water.

-888-

The sun was low in the sky and already the sands were giving back the heat absorbed during the long daylight hours. They had broken camp and their bellies were full of Sokka's cooking, which was not sitting well with him. He wore his light tunic, being used to the cold, while Azula had donned her heavy coat and left the front open and the hood down. "I thought you could use your bending to keep you warm?" he asked as she was about to climb into Appa's saddle.

"It's a waste of energy when I have a fur coat, dummy," she said.

"Come over here a minute, I need to talk to you."

Nekka was with June, using Hoplo's journal to refresh Nyla's scent memory. According to June's map, Nyla was leading them to the region Sokka had specified, something he was pleased to hear.

Azula stepped off Appa's flat tail, causing the bison to grunt.

"What is it?" she asked.

He told her about his meditating and experience with the Old One, feeling better about it as he spoke. As expected, she understood completely. "They can infect our minds like diseases," she said. "You got the Old One the same way I got the shoggoth. I'd probably have my mind eaten if I tried to contact it like you did."

"Shhh," he said, looking to see Nekka was petting Nyla while June climbed up on his back. "I'll run it by Nekka later, but June can't know I'm seeing things."

"Afraid she'll decide we're crazy and take off?" Azula asked. "No matter. Once we have the library, she'll be useless to us."

"Ugh. Give that stuff a rest, will ya? Come on, let's just go."

Nekka came running over as Azula climbed into Appa's saddle while Sokka double-check their camp to make sure everything was packed. "I'm going to ride with June if that's okay?" she said.

"Uh, yeah, whatever you want," he said. "Just don't weird her out, okay?"

Nekka gave a quick nod and darted back to Nyla.

Sokka assumed his position on Appa, and jostled the reins. "Yip-yip!" The bison grunted and rose into the gloaming sky.

"Why is she not coming with us?" Azula asked, leaning over the front of Appa's saddle. "What's the meaning of this?"

"That's what being mean to people gets you," he said. "You're a princess in name only, nobody has to listen to you."

He had been harsher than he had intended to be, and he awaited a retort but none came. When they were in the air cruising through the sharp wind, Sokka had to pay careful attention on the ground so he did not lose Nyla against the black, starlit dunes. He chanced a glance back at Azula, who was keeping a sour lookout for flying attackers.

Should he apologize? No, he had been right. Another setback, he supposed, nothing he could do anything about now without making it worse. Sokka tried to ponder what the Old One had told him, about Cthulhu needing the Avatar to absorb Azathoth, or had it been bond with Azathoth? What that had to do with the Avatar, he had no clue. He had often heard Aang complain that much of the Avatar lore had been lost in the one-hundred years he spent frozen in a block of ice, but back then it seemed like little more than an annoyance for sages and scholars.

The wind whipped his face; he tried to keep his mind on the sensation, and the feel of Appa's warm fur under him. They let him recall better days quite vividly, but part of him knew those days only seemed bright and carefree because he had survived them, they all had. Whether they would live again was another story, and that fact soured his mood. He looked back and saw Azula sitting calmly, neither sour nor anything else, lost in thought and watching the starry sky for black silhouettes.

The mind was a playground, a place anything could happen with no consequences. Unable to piece together the puzzle of Cthulhu and the Avatar, he set it aside and wondered about himself and Azula. As nebulous and strange as the idea was, it was calming, and since no one could see or hear his thoughts, he let himself enjoy them.

-888-

"I spy with my little eye, something that begins with S."

"If it's sand dune, sand, sky, or saddle,, I'm going to spy something that begins with B. I'll give you some clues, burned, bruised, beaten..."

"I'm not sure that's how you play the game," said Sokka, yawning. He had already spied Nyla, Nekka, June, and Appa. "And hey, at least I haven't spied something that begins with 'Aah!' as in, 'Ah, it's those flying monsters!'"

"This is the worst traveling game I've ever played," said Azula. She was directly behind him, sitting on the edge of the saddle. "This can't be how you peasants entertain each other while migrating."

"One, we don't migrate. Most of us. Two, normally we don't play this game in an endless desert."

"I'm starting to hope we do see some star-spawn, soon," she said. "That's how boring you are."

"Oh, I'm boring am I? Try having an annoying princess who won't leave you alone. Ow!" She had punched him in the arm. "I'm flyin' a bison here! What happened, did you run out of rocks to throw at me?"

"Yes, and the bison is perfectly capable of flying itself while I thrash you," she said.

The sun was rising like an angry buzzard wasp, beating its hot wings over the sand which drank up and spit back the heat. Rest would have to come soon, he could hear Appa breathing through his mouth making him seem like a giant furnace.

He was watching for June's signal when Azula grabbed his shoulder. "I spy something that begins with L," she said, pointing to vertical lines squiggling in the sun-cooked haze.

The stone domes and spires of the Great Library of Wan Shi Tong sat in a crater of sand, the top of which was ringed with poles and tan canvasses to keep the sand from taking the building back. Sokka pulled up on Appa's reins to make him fly higher so he could see over the hole, but there was nothing to explain the massive excavation. The wind-blasted canvass shield had not been put up recently, but Sokka was not a man of the dunes and could not say how long it had been holding back the desert, only that it had failed in some places and let the sand in.

Nyla charged to the crater, and crashed through the canvass wall to slide down and stop before the library's ornate steps. Appa circled the building, and Sokka took a close look at the tallest spire, the one he and his friends had first entered the library from when it was all buried in sand. The topmost window was dark and Sokka could feel the emptiness inside pull at him like a vacuum.

"This is weird," announced Sokka, as Appa landed. June and Nekka had climbed down from Nyla, and all were glad for the small shade the crater and library provided.

"I'm gonna guess this is it?" said June.

"Age certainly hasn't dulled your bounty hunter deductive powers," said Azula.

"Oops, she meant to say, nice work, and thank you very, very much," said Sokka, putting himself between the two. "How much of a bonus would you need to come inside with us?"

"I'll stay out here and watch your bison for free, but only because the sun is about to come up and there's no way Nyla is running in this heat," said June. "I'm not going to wait up for you, though."

"Fair enough. Thanks for your help, June," Sokka said, shaking her hand. June nodded politely to Nekka and made a rude gesture at Azula, who returned it.

"Hope you lovebirds find your book," June said.

"Let's go," said Sokka. "We don't have time to mess around, remember? Nekka, you got Hoplo's journal?"

Nekka held it up, and Sokka took it. "I'm the one who more or less made the owl spirit mad last time, I think it's best I try to be the one who patches things up. Who knows, maybe the library being uncovered means he's in a better mood."

"Who uncovered it?" Azula asked, not expecting an answer.

"Ah, that's a good question," Sokka said. "Saved us a lot of work whoever they were."

"I don't like this," Azula said.

He looked around briefly for clues, but saw none. There were no signs of leftover or broken tools, no footprints, nothing to indicate who had dug the massive building out of the sand, or how. It had to have been sandbenders, or Wan Shi Tong himself. Perhaps the severe old owl had undergone a change of heart, or merely realized his knowledge gatherers, the tiny jackal spirits, had no way of getting in with the library completely buried.

"I don't like it either," he said, looking up at the ornate, stone columns.

The proper entrance to the library was a set of double stone doors that inched open with little effort. The stale, paper air had a thickness to it, but it was cool and therefore welcome. The building had been built to channel and reflect light from outside, leaving the shelves of scrolls and furniture cast in perpetual gloom. There were no sconces or torches lit, so Azula conjured a bright, blue flame from her hand.

Sokka's legs wobbled when he saw the tipped shelves, the scattered and torn scrolls, the broken tables and benches. Nekka staggered around in breathless horror, Azula cursed, and Sokka took a closer look at the damage. The scrolls were all unfurled, and many had been scratched and torn, but to him it had the look of simple rough treatment, not an act of deliberate destruction.

"I don't suppose it was like this the last time you were here?" Azula asked, bending over something on the floor.

"No," said Sokka, wincing at the dead jackal she had found. It had died a violent death, but it showed no sign of rot and appeared bloodless. "That's one of the librarian's spirit helpers. Oh, man this is bad."

Azula stood upright and lit a wall sconce. "This happened recently," she said. "There's no dust on the scrolls, and this helper-thing seems fresh. The only question that matters is did they get what they were looking for?"

"Are they still here might be a better question," said Sokka.

"Of course they are," Azula said, looking around at the deep recess created by toppled shelves. The main hall was at least a hundred feet high, with two mezzanines all holding book and scroll shelves. "I can feel them, can't you?"

Without jackal spirits running to and fro, the Great Library of Wan Shi Tong was still as a tomb. He strained his ears for any noise at all, but beyond Nekka's quiet feet and the blood in his own ears there was almost nothing.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, thinking his mind had to be playing a trick.

"I don't hear anything. I don't need to. I can tell they're here."

It was impossible what he heard. It made no sense. "Nekka," he said, and she stopped moving. He listened and could hear his own living body, the wind against the thick stone outside, and violin music. "Forget it, it's nothing," he said.

"Don't count on it. Now, where's this librarian you were so worried about appeasing? How do we summon him?"

"He should have shown up already," said Sokka. "Maybe he's dead."

"Spirits are almost impossible to truly kill, but they can be weakened or diminished," said Nekka, moving quickly out of the gloom to stand near him.

"Look for a diminished owl, then."

Sokka moved between piles of scrolls and books, trying and failing to keep from stepping on them. He was looking for something long, almost serpentine in shape with a round white face. Wan Shi Tong had been massive, larger than Appa, but who knew what form he had taken on if what Nekka said was accurate?

Each crinkle of paper was a crescendo in the silent, musty air. He saw that they had foolishly let themselves be spread thin. Nekka stood between two tipped bookshelves rolling up a scroll, while Azula had gone farther on. She held a small blue flame close to her chest, rightly believing she stood in the center of an inferno awaiting the slightest accident.

-If we get attacked, this place is going up in smoke,- he thought.

"If we were going to be ambushed they would have attacked by now, don't you think?" Sokka said, after walking over to Azula. She looked as if she had realized the danger her bending posed, but was not as concerned as he wanted her to be.

"We keep defeating them, perhaps they've gotten smart," she said. "Or they fear what I could do in a place like this."

"I think we're all afraid of that. Come on, there's nothing here. Let's go down that hallway."

He called Nekka over and the three of them went down the long, stone corridor. The library was laid out for ease of navigation and as they went along the passage and through antechambers, Azula stopped to light the small wall sconces and reading lanterns.

Everywhere they went had been ransacked; no scroll or book had been left untouched. Many had been ripped in the same fashion as the ones in the main hall, and there was no end to Nekka's groaning. "None of them look like they've been shredded, so maybe we can come back later and straighten the place out," Sokka said.

They walked for half an hour before Sokka found a map of the library hung in an alcove and took it down. Once he identified where they were, he led them on a systematic walk through the first floor. They found more turned over shelves, torn scrolls, bent and ripped books, and a few dead knowledge seekers.

The sensation of being watched never left them and Azula became visibly anxious, as if she expected an ambush at every juncture, room, and alcove. Sokka, too, began to feel as though they were merely wandering around looking for a fight.

Sokka consulted the map when the halls and tipped shelves began to look familiar. They were heading for the calendar room, a place he had been looking forward to seeing again. He stopped before the door, and turned to his companions. "I hope they didn't wreck this place up too bad, it's pretty awesome. After we check it, we'll head down to the sub-levels. If we don't find creepy monsters there, we won't find any."

The floor of the calendar room was a sheet of glass, under which could be seen hundreds of gears, dials, and rods. The walls and ceiling were a half sphere where brass hoops fitted with crystals, circles of jade, marble, and many other beautiful materials could be turned. The baubles represented stars, planets, and comets which would move when a dial at center of the room was adjusted.

The room was intact and he stood before the dial, examining it.

"Is something the matter? The place looks in order," asked Azula.

"Eh, nothing I guess. It's just that the last time I was here, I used this place to figure out what happened on the so-called Fire Nation's Darkest Day. The Day of Black Sun, remember it? It looks like it got moved since then."

"Perhaps your bird spirit fiddled with it," she said.

"Yeah, maybe. Or that weird professor."

"It's been set to the vernal equinox," said Nekka. "That's when the length of the day and night will be the same." She was looking up now. "This is amazing! If accurate, and I'm sure it is, one could plant crops better, follow seal and whale migrations, or determine the dates of historical events."

"You could find out when the stars are right," said Azula, narrowing her eyes at the false heavens.

Sokka had not been much of a stargazer, but his years of navigating small boats and Appa had given him a knowledge of the major constellations and a passing familiarity with some of the smaller ones. Something was off about the sky he was now looking at. "Vernal equinox," he said. "Sounds creepy."

"It's not creepy," said Nekka. "The equinox happens twice a year. It's when the day is the same duration as night. Yin and Yang are equal before one yields to the other. It's said to be a time when rivals come together to find common ground."

Azula and Sokka both snorted in unison.

"It's also said to be a time when the barrier between worlds is thinnest," said Nekka, quieter

"Barrier? What are you talking about?" asked Azula.

Nekka hesitated until Sokka gave her a nod. "It's a well-known theory that the spirit world occupies the same space as this one, it's just separate somehow," said Nekka, holding her hands flat, then locking her fingers together. "But in my area of research there's more than just the spirit world. We have the same theory, that all worlds occupy the same space so to speak, but are separate somehow. Most writers characterize the separating mechanism as a barrier and it's supposed to be thinnest at the equinoxes."

"Good to know," said Azula, sounding unimpressed. "And we've had how many equinoxes since Cthulhu has been around?"

"Let's just make a note of this and move on," said Sokka. "Maybe if we find Professor Zei down here he can tell us something."

"Who?"

"He's an archeologist from Ba Sing Se. He's how we found this place to begin with. When Wan Shi Tong got all mad and sunk the place, he decided to stay behind."

"I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he's probably a corpse," said Azula.

"We won't know until we find him," said Sokka, annoyed. "Come on, let's get going."

The map directed them to a flight of stairs that took them down to a place where the hallways were tighter. They found small, portable lanterns that still had oil which Azula lit for Sokka and Nekka to carry.

After a short distance, Sokka bid them to stop having spied something something he sorely missed from life in the Fire Nation. "Hold up," he said, walking over to an opening in the wall that led down a short passage, which veered off to the right. "Nature calls, ladies, and I've had enough of pooping in the desert."

Azula made a disgusted sound as Nekka pointed out a restroom for women down the hall and on the other side.

The men's restroom was surprisingly well-lit from mirrors set in the high ceiling and to his immense joy he found wiping paper in one of the stalls. It was old, but it served, and there was even a wash basin that pumped lukewarm water through a brass spout with the turn of a dial.

His washing reverie was interrupted by a scream, which became curses and threats. Sokka ran to the women's restroom, pausing for a moment on seeing the sign marked "Women," before entering, boomerang at the ready.

Azula stood over the cringing form of a man, both hands blazing with blue fire while Nekka cowered behind her. "Start talking, fish-man, or I'll pan sear you!"

The man wore ratty clothing, and seemed more dust than skin. His eyes, while wide with fear, held nothing of the Outer-Maw look.

"Professor Zei?" Sokka said, urging Azula to lower her flames.

The professor looked up at him, his face stretching for recognition. He was thin and pale, but not unhealthily so, and his clothes were the sort of disheveled that came from long, but not hard usage. The scratches he bore on his hands, and the bags beneath his eyes seemed more recent.

"Y-you...it's you, from before! The Avatar is here!" Zei said.

Sokka helped him to his feet. "Ah, afraid not; it's just me and these two. Listen, Professor Zei, it's a long, long story, but I need to know what happened here. Where's the Necronomicon?"

Zei shoved him so abruptly, Sokka fell backward and landed on his rear. He hit the ground a moment before Zei did, the professor's legs having been kicked out from under him by Azula who put her foot on his chest and prepared to lance him with a narrow jet of fire.

"Bad move, creep!" she shouted.

"You won't get it! You won't trick me! I'll die first!" He writhed under Azula's foot, but could not escape.

Sokka got to his feet and went to Zei, holding him down and gently pushing Azula off him. "Keep an eye on the door," he told her, and she reluctantly obeyed. "Stop. Professor, stop! Fine, you don't have to tell us where the book is, just tell me what happened here, okay?"

The professor still struggled and Sokka strained to hold him before deciding to let him up. Zei scurried to one of the stalls where he sequestered himself like a frightened mouse. "I won't be tricked! Your ransacking, your desecration, didn't work and neither will pathetic disguises."

"When you're done fooling around with him say the word and I'll make him talk," said Azula.

"Professor, please, it's me, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. We met three years ago when we found this place. It was me who used the library to find out the Fire Nation's weakness, which angered Wan Shi Tong and caused him to bury this place. We're here because we think Cthulhu has kidnapped the Avatar and we need the Necronomicon to get him back."

"Cthulhu?" Zei's eyes were wide in the shadow of the stall.

"Enough!" shouted Azula. "Tell us what we want to know or suffer the consequences!" Both her hands were in flames and Sokka moved to stand between her and Professor Zei.

"Azula, that's enough. Professor Zei, please..."

It was Nekka's turn to stand before Zei. She extended her hand, as if to a stray cat. "Professor? My name is Nekka, of the Northern Water Tribe. I studied under Sifu Misso and I've read several of your books."

"Misso," said Zei. "It's been years...how is he?"

Sokka cringed, but Nekka seemed to suffer no great shock. She bowed he head and spoke softly. "He's gone. He was murdered by a cult that worships Cthulhu, the entity described in the Pnakotic Fragments and in the writings of Al-Hazred." She held up Hoplo's journal. "This belonged to my ancestor, Hoplo. You're of course familiar with the name. His journal was recovered at the south pole, by these two. They corroborate stories about the Old Ones and shoggoths."

Trembling, Zei stepped out of the stall and examined the journal. "Lies tend to be simple. You're story is quite convoluted. Let's say I believe you, what do you hope to accomplish with the Necronomicon?"

Azula stifled a howl of rage between her teeth and Sokka had to calm her down. "We don't know," he said. "We won't know that until we've read it. I'm hoping it's got a drawing of Cthulhu and a little X where to hit him, but we'll take what we can get."

Zei stroked his chin, his fear giving way to the same spark Sokka had seen in Nekka's eyes when she talked about odd things. "I doubt it has anything like that, but if what Al-Hazred wrote was more than fiction then perhaps it would be useful."

"I don't suppose you've read it?" Sokka asked.

"Oh my, no," said Professor Zei. "Wan Shi Tong keeps that particular book strictly off limits, which is saying something given what else he leaves lying around here. I was intrigued, but not surprised, to learn he had a complete copy of the Necronomicon, but the tome never interested me."

"Off limits, huh? Professor, can you tell us what happened here? Who, or what, tore this place apart?"

"And are they still here?" asked Azula.

Zei trembled, but composed himself. "We didn't notice the digging until it was too late. How they unearthed the library so quickly I haven't a clue, but once it was done they tore through here like nothing I've ever seen. I didn't get a good look at them, Wan Shi Tong suggested I hide as best I could and that's what I did. There were dozens and dozens of them. All I remember seeing was claws, massive ones, and a man's voice shouting at them in some strange language.

"What did Wan Shi Tong do during all this?" Sokka asked, some of Zei's own paranoia and mistrust having taken root in him.

"He fought, of course, but two things became clear very quickly. The first was the battle would lead to the destruction of countless scrolls and valuable tomes. The second was the attackers sought only one thing, the Necronomicon. I've been busy hiding, leaving only to secure food, but I'm fairly certain Wan Shi Tong retreated in order to guard the Forbidden Room where the Necronomicon is kept."

"Do you know if the monster's are still here?" Sokka asked.

"I didn't hear them leave," said Zei.

"We know they're here," Azula said. "The only question is have they secured the book or not, and if so, are they planning an ambush for us?"

"Can you take us to this room?" asked Sokka.

"I can get you close, but just the two of you..."

"Will be more than enough," said Azula.

Zei looked between the three of them as he chewed his lip. "Very well. Come with me, I'll take you as far as I dare go."

They learned that Zei had not been able to survey much of the damage to the library's books and scrolls. When he saw what had been done to the vast collection of knowledge they had to stop while he wailed and moaned and tried to set a ruined bookshelf back in order. Sokka explained to him most of the books and papers had merely been scattered; this got the scholar moving again but did little to quiet him.

When they came to a large reading room, Zei bent over a dead knowledge seeker. Grieved beyond words, he picked it up and set it upon a table.

"Professor Zei..." Sokka said, getting ready to have him point out where the Forbidden Room was on the map if he could not go farther. Zei looked up from the knowledge seeker, his face set in anger.

"We're here. In that alcove over there is a stairwell that will take you down to the Forbidden Room. I'm coming with you." He took a tall candlestick to wield like a pole arm and Sokka could see there was nothing he could say to dissuade the man from coming further.

Inspired, Nekka bent the water from one of her water skins and promptly spilled it on the floor. Azula sighed as she ignited both her hands and led the way into the dark alcove.

There was no door to the stairwell and it was wider than Sokka had expected. Azula's fire cast the walls in blue and she lit sconces on the way down which burned orange on their own. He had considered telling her they should try to be sneaky, but did not bother. Their enemies knew they were coming.

At the bottom of the stairs Azula's blue light peeled back the darkness inside a massive, square chamber and was reflected in dozens upon dozens of black, round eyes. Long, white claws attached to shovel-like hands took a blue hue as they clacked together. The creatures were short and round with loose, gray skin that hung off them to form bag-like crevasses. They had no heads, just black orbs set into their round bodies above a seam that Sokka could see concealed ropey, white tentacles.

They all stood before a giant, black door that absorbed the light in the room, making it seem more like empty space than a barrier. Out from the shadows behind the monsters shuffled a hunched form wearing filthy, gray robes. Sokka braced himself against seeing its face, but it kept its hood up and features concealed. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!" the priest gargled. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"

It pointed at them with some strange appendage from under its sleeve that defied any earthly analogy, save perhaps a diseased tree branch. "The Red Star is on the horizon! The barrier becomes thin. R'lyeh will lie sunken no more and mighty Cthulhu will walk free! You will be ground into nothing! Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!" the priest shouted.

Azula conjured a round ball of blue lightning which floated in front of her a moment before she tapped it into the air then jumped to slap it like a kuai ball. It sailed over the inhuman priest's head where it exploded. The attack did more to cause panic than death, and Sokka shouted for them all to retreat farther up the stairs, counting on the higher elevation and narrower space to dampen the advantage of the monster's numbers.

There were over a score of the stocky, densely built creatures. They moved fast, the ones in the front opening their seams to lash out with a nest of white tentacles that sought to grab and pull towards their claws. Azula fired a powerful bolt of lightning into the center of one and it exploded, sending sloughs of skin and burnt goop all over.

The priest shouted something and the tentacles withdrew, leaving the creatures to come toward them solely with their claws. Azula's lightning had less an effect now, but it still worked to slow them down.

"Get out of here!" Sokka shouted. "Go, find June! We'll hold them off."

Nekka and Zei did as they were told, while Sokka darted forward with his boomerang, dodging swiping claws to take pecking strikes at the spots between black orb eyes.

Even when gravely wounded the things were making their way up the stairs, goaded onward by the priest who stood behind them. "Cut off the head and the body dies," shouted Azula, leaping over the monsters, using them like stepping stones in a river to reach the priest.

"Azula, no!" he shouted, seeing her knocked out of the air and go under the sea of gray bodies.

Sokka pulled the same stunt she had, his feet going from one creature to the next. He got just as far as Azula had, just with less grace, and yet before he went down he hurled his boomerang at the priest and saw it strike him under the hood with a satisfying, wet thunk.

Sokka landed hard and knew his only chance would be to keep moving. He was being dealt savage blows by sharp claws and he felt his back become warm and wet. -Blood,- he thought. -What a way to go.-

While painful and bloody, the blows were not well-aimed and none of his vitals or spine took hard shots. Sokka kept his head covered by his hands and ran towards the fire and lightning he saw through the mass of bodies. Somehow he came out on the other side, torn, bruised, and bleeding. Azula was next to him, her hair matted in blood and hanging in front of her face. Her lightning blasts were becoming weaker, the creatures coming closer. Azula created a wall of fire before them, but the things walked right through it, heedless of the searing their saggy-skinned bodies took in braving the barrier.

Sokka looked to the stairs and knew he and Azula would be freshly dead by the time June came with Nyla, who was large but narrow enough to fit through the library's passages. -No, I hope she doesn't come,- he thought. -Let Nekka and Zei get away and tell the world what's happening-

When the fire and lightning stopped, he reached out and grabbed Azula's hand. He felt her squeeze him back and was about to look at her when he saw movement by the stairs.

He thought they were dogs at first, then knowledge seekers, but when they began to gibber and yip he realized they were something else entirely. Their calls gave the surging monsters pause, and as the sound became all Sokka could hear, he saw the stairwell was clogged with the weird, loping creatures. They came down it like running water and splashed against the rear guard of the star-spawn.

Sokka tried to make out more of the new creatures, for they had a humanoid aspect to them he found most disturbing. He was distracted, however , by the closest of the star-spawn who had resumed their forward march.

Azula experienced a short-lived burst of energy which she used to send chain lightning along the row of oncoming monsters. The one she hit directly went down, but the others continued forward. She collapsed to her knees alongside Sokka, who was now dizzy from blood loss. "Aw, man. Hey. Sorry I got us killed," he said.

"When we get to the afterlife, start running," Azula said, taking his hand once more.

He laughed, thinking she would likely still have a grip on him when they got there, but his dizzy mirth was short-lived when the black door behind them moved.

A long, dark shape dove over them into the mass of star-spawn. It turned almost like a feathered serpent and Sokka saw the round, white face and angry black eyes directing a tearing, ripping beak.

"Wan Shi Tong!" he shouted, and almost passed out.

Alone, the owl spirit might have had a hard time defeating the star-spawn, for their instinct when he attacked was to cover themselves with their claws and hunker down. With the smaller creatures harrying them, however, Wan Shi Tong was landing killing blows as he swirled about the room like a hot, night wind.

Sokka's jubilation was tempered by his wounds and he looked to see Azula was in as rough a shape as he was. He kept still and watched the battle play out. Wall sconces had been lit, perhaps by Wan Shi Tong, and he could see the strange new creatures held both human and jackal aspects. They were almost skeletal, their skins either pale or a sickly yellow but they moved and bit and clawed with alarming vigor. Many had been broken by the star-spawn's claws, but those creatures were slowly dwindling under the combined onslaught of the owl spirit and skeletal dog-men.

When the last star-spawn were dead along with their priest, Wan Shi Tong wasted no time in blowing over to tower above Sokka and Azula. "Wait, hang on a second," Sokka said, holding up a bloody-smeared hand.

"I will not slay you," said the spirit, bending down to bring his white face directly over Sokka where it hung like the burning sun. "But if you should die, that is of no consequence to me."

The spirit's attitude did not bode well for their mission, he noted, but his impending doom was a real possibility if he did not get help soon, same for Azula. When he saw the dog-like things going up the stairs, he waited, then collapsed when he saw Nekka coming down.

He must have passed out, for he did not remember how he got up the stairs and to the reading room.

"Oh, you're both hurt bad," Nekka exclaimed.

Sokka lay on a table while Azula had been set in a chair. "See to him first," she said. "He's hurt badly, and I'm stronger besides."

"I'm fine," Sokka lied. "It's mostly scratches. Nekka, help her."

"Keep away from me, oaf. Make your mistakes on him first," hissed Azula, who slumped further down in the chair.

"I can help you both stop bleeding," said Nekka. "Oh no, I need more bandages!"

"Then go get them!" Azula shouted, and Nekka ran.

"What were those things?" Sokka asked, feeling himself fading out again.

"I assume you mean the newcomers? Friends of the owl, I thought."

"They didn't look like it," Sokka said. "Be honest, how bad are you hurt?"

"I need stitches," Azula said. "As do you, but I'm not letting her touch me until she's proven herself."

Sokka picked his head up to find Zei, but a wave of dizziness sent him back under.

-888-

"I learned a lot about sewing up wounds when Nyla was younger. He'd get a little over-eager with bounties, you see," said June, who had been summoned into the library.

They were still in the reading room. Zei had brought in two large water basins and used skins and a nearby restroom to fill them. A paper screen had been erected between Sokka and Azula, who both lay on tables. June worked on her, while Nekka and Zei assisted Sokka. The dressing had not been painless by any means, but neither patient argued with the need to clean their wounds. The salve used on Sokka's ear before was all but spent on them both now and Nekka did what she could with her water healing.

When it was over, Sokka and Azula were given fresh blankets and the screen between them was removed. "I will plead your case before Wan Shi Tong," said Zei. "If Miss Nekka will accompany me, perhaps we can persuade him to assist you, but you know how he can be."

Azula protested, but Sokka thought this the best course of action given the friendliest the spirit had been to him lately was allowing him to bleed out on his own. June went with the scholars down the stairs, leaving Sokka alone in the big room with Azula.

"Well, that was close," he said. "I don't think I ever got hurt this bad during the war."

"I underestimated them. Luckily those other things showed up when they did. You say they're not the owl's servants?"

"I don't think so," said Sokka. "We can ask Nekka or Zei when they get back."

"Do you think those spineless bookworms will be able to sway the spirit?"

"I don't think we're going to force him into anything, spines or no spines, so let's hope so."

He looked over at her as she stared at the ceiling. His hand closed on itself, remembering the heat and pressure from hers.

To be continued...


	12. The Necronomicon

Hunched over in front of the black door, Sokka thought he owed June a steak dinner, something beyond the hefty fee he would see that she was paid at the end of this. He could still taste the tea she had brewed them out of yellow birch bark. It made the agony of his wounds a dull throbbing that he could live with. Azula stood next to him, the tea having helped her as well. She was making an effort to stand straighter than him, which was no great feat for Sokka hobbled and winced freely with each movement.

The chamber where the battle had taken place was devoid of any signs it had happened save for scorch marks on the walls and ceiling where Azula's flames had missed their targets. Her lightning had always found its mark and so the damage remained cosmetic.

A white, round face appeared at the top of the door, and the blackness of it came off like a falling curtain pouring down then billowing up again into the shape of a desert owl that towered over the two injured humans.

"I thought you looked familiar," said Wan Shi Tong, his tiny black eyes fixing on Sokka. "You're the one who came into my library not long ago to use my knowledge as a weapon. You're why I decided to make all of my knowledge forbidden."

"I didn't think you'd be so touchy about it," said Sokka. "I also thought you wouldn't mind your knowledge being used to bring peace to the world, which oh-by-the-way we totally did."

"A temporary peace at some one else's expense, I'm certain," said the owl spirit. "Your friends did an admirable job of pleading your case before me, but I'm not convinced I should give you the book you seek."

"Is this how spirits show gratitude?" asked Azula. "We cleared your library of monsters, I should think some form of thanks is in order."

"You mistake caution for ungratefulness," said Wan Shi Tong. "I posses the original copy of the Necronomicon, written by Al-Hazred centuries ago. It destroyed many, many lives before I was able to acquire it. I keep it hidden in order to protect others from it."

"We really only need information on one topic," said Sokka. "We might not even have to check it out. You do let people check books out, right?"

"No."

"No!? What kind of library is this?"

"A forbidden one."

"Yeah, I got that, loud and clear, but didn't Nekka explain to you what's at stake here? This isn't some human war we're trying to win, we're trying to stop Cthulhu from eating the world or whatever. You're a timeless spirit, maybe you remember him? Looks like a big ol' squid or something?"

Wan Shi Tong stood up straight like an obsidian pillar, his black eyes were portals into space. His breast swelled. "You have no doubt heard that we spirits are timeless, but it is not so. Ancient though I am, I do not remember the time when Cthulhu is said to have reigned over the earth. I knew of the so-called Old Ones in my youth, but they were lost before I could converse with them. I know little of what is written in the Necronomicon, for I have dared not read more than a few pages, but I know this: The time is soon upon us when, for whatever reason, Cthulhu will be able to return. He comes for the Avatar, for he seeks a power only the Avatar possesses. This power will allow him to overthrow Azathoth, the so-called Demon Sultan at the center of the universe."

"We've kinda figured that much," Sokka said. "That seems like a really good reason to help us out here, don't you think?"

"On the contrary, you have no way of stopping Cthulhu from entering our world and taking what he wants..."

"That's my point exactly!" Sokka shouted, interrupting the owl. "If there's a way to stop him at all, it's in that Necronomicon book! You have no reason to keep it from us!"

"I'm keeping it from you as a small mercy, but you are sorely tempting me into letting you try and read it," said Wan Shi Tong, his sheen of black feathers ruffling. "But it's not only for your sake I'm reluctant. You see, your race is to Cthulhu what a pond of mosquitoes might be to you. He will tear this world in two to obtain what he wants, but he has larger foes to face elsewhere, far from here. It may be the wisest course of action to let him have what he wants and simply hope he forgets to take the effort required to completely annihilate this world. And he's less likely to forget if people like you are meddling in his affairs."

Sokka felt nauseous and could taste yellow birch tea in the back of his throat. "That's just...dumb," he said.

Azula hissed and stepped in front of him to look up at the owl spirit as though she might slap its beak. "A wise owl indeed," she sneered. "Cthulhu is unstoppable, you say? Well then why do his followers persist in trying to thwart us? And why are we able to best them at every turn? The Old Ones were able to topple him once, and while they appear to serve him, they're still around. They could be dealt with somehow, I'm sure, but we won't know until we get a look at that book you're oh-so mercifully protecting us from. "

"Way to steal my lines," muttered Sokka.

Before Wan Shi Tong could respond, Nekka's rapid, shuffling footsteps were heard on the steps. "S-sorry to interrupt. I was listening from the top of the stairs. Great Wan Shi Tong, I don't mean to sound rude, but surely you can't believe a being like Cthulhu will leave anything on this world intact once he gains the power he seeks?"

Again, Wan Shi Tong was a silent pillar, but there was a softness in his manner when he finally addressed Nekka. "No, I do not, which is why I would also seek to prevent your needless suffering. You are the one who would read the book, I gather?"

"Yes. Please, great spirit. I've studied these things my entire life under wise and cautious teachers. My mind is as disciplined and strong as the body of any warrior. I can find what I'm looking for and not go mad. Please, let me see the Necronomicon!"

Nekka had come forward to make her plea. She clutched Hoplo's journal in both hands, holding it to her chest like a talisman. Wan Shi Tong bent suddenly and brought his white face close to Nekka, forcing her to step back. "Now is no time for idle boasting, young one. Surely you've heard about the fates that have befallen the wise, disciplined minds who delved with the utmost care into the Necronomicon's secrets?"

"Y-yes," said Nekka. "But I suppose I have to disagree with you on how careful they were. The ones who are said to have read the book are all men who wanted more power and knowledge. I seek something very specific and I'm not driven by greed."

The owl spirit chuckled and drew himself back up to his full height. "Out of you three, perhaps the firebender may understand what I am about to say the best. Knowledge is like flame. It can be manipulated and contained, but truly it has no master, and just as what is burned can not be unburned, what is learned can not be unlearned. Tread as carefully as you like, human, but you will not close that book unscathed."

Wan Shi Tong let the silence stretch on then he took a deep breath. "The young scholar may read the Necronomicon to her heart's content," said the owl spirit. "But I will not permit it to leave the library, and only she may enter the Forbidden Room." He dipped suddenly, knocking Sokka painfully on his rear. "And if you go against my will this time, I will be very angry indeed."

Despite his pounding headache, Sokka bobbed his head. "Yes sir, Mr. Wan Shi Tong," he said.

The owl silently spread his wings and flew over their heads, slipping his body into the stairwell and heading up and out of sight. Where he had been standing was the door to the Forbidden Room. It was not as tall as the owl spirit had been while acting as a barrier, but its color just as dark. It was open just enough to admit a human body, but the torchlight from the main chamber showed nothing beyond but a wedge of floor.

"Well, I guess I'll go have a look," said Nekka.

Professor Zei had come down the stairs, carrying a lantern. "I take it Wan Shi Tong is letting you see the Necronomicon?" he asked.

"Yes," said Nekka, reaching out for his lantern, which he gave her. "I'll be out soon, I hope."

"We'll be here," said Sokka. He expected an impatient sigh or remark from Azula, but she was oddly silent as Nekka entered the room and disappeared.

"Well, now what?" asked Azula.

"Sparky, Boomerang Boy," shouted June, as she descended the stairs. "I'm leaving. Figured I'd let you know." She came up to them and looked at the open door to the Forbidden Room. "Did the bird give you what you wanted?"

"Looks like it. Hey, thanks for all your help. You'll totally get paid if we don't all die," said Sokka, clasping wrists with June.

"Based on how you look now, I'm planning on calling this whole thing a bust," June said. "Did you ever figure out what those things were that saved you?"

"Miss Nekka said they were likely, er, ghouls," said Zei. "She didn't seem keen on talking much about them, and I know I've never seen one in here before."

Sokka rubbed his head, for the creatures had been puzzling him greatly. He had wanted to ask Wan Shi Tong about them, but the chance had not come up.

"Professor, is there...a violin anywhere in this library?" he asked, thinking of unasked questions.

"A violin? I know there's an entire section devoted to music. There may be a violin, but I don't think I've seen one. Why?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Sokka said.

-You did hear violin music. It was not a trick of the mind.-

It was his inner voice again, but not his words. -You! Are you going to be helpful or what?-

No response, and people were looking at him so he yawned.

They bid second farewells to June, who assured them Appa was safe in the shade and well-watered. With little else to do, Sokka and Azula chose to rest by the door while Zei offered to fetch furnishings from the reading room.

Sokka and Azula soon sat on musty cushions on either side of a short tea table. From stone mugs they sipped tea brewed by Professor Zei. When they were settled, he looked to the Forbidden Room as a sudden haste came over him.

"I'm going to begin straightening out the library. Wan Shi Tong says the knowledge seekers are not truly dead, but it will be some time before they can move again to help me. Find me before you leave, won't you?"

"Sure," said Sokka.

"He's nervous about something," said Azula after Zei had left them.

The wedge of light across the floor of the Forbidden Room had been continually drawing Sokka's attention since he had first seen it. The room's floor seemed different than the rest of the library, older somehow, more barren. "This is officially the creepiest library in the world now, so I can't say as I blame him," Sokka said.

"Ghouls...vile things, even if they did help us. Have you tried asking your little friend about them? The one that lives in your head and has been talking to you?"

"That obvious, huh?" he said, and blew on his tea. It had some of the yellow birch mixed in, and it dulled his pain while tasting foul. "Let me try." He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "The Old One says the ghouls were more scared of Princess Azula than Cthulhu, so they helped us out."

He was surprised to hear her laugh, and wondered what other effects yellow birch bark tea could have on a body. His eyes went to the door of the Forbidden Room. The light did not seem to flicker, and he could not hear the turning of pages from inside.

"Ask it what it did to Zuzu and the others," Azula said.

He made a serious attempt at an inquiry, but got only silence for a reply.

"Ommm," he intoned, closing his eyes and making his face sag. "It says Zuko was too lame, so he was sent back."

The joke was cruel, he thought, but it elicited a bolt of laughter from Azula. Sokka glanced at the door in fear, as if they would be overheard.

"Zuzu's problem is he takes everything too seriously," Azula said. "Not like you."

"Hey, I take plenty of things seriously."

"Yes, and you're funnier when you do," she said, looking towards the stairs.

"I'm glad I amuse you."

"If it's one thing I hate, it's being bored," she said. "Not that we've had much cause to be, you and I."

"Things are usually pretty un-boring when you're around, that's for sure."

She raised her cup of tea and he obliged her with a soft clink. She wore an odd expression, one he suspected was related to the tea and blood loss, but he enjoyed it all the same.

"So, tell me more about the imposter you propped up in my place."

"What do you want to know?"

"What's she like? How did you come to know her?"

"She's nice. Her family let me live with them when I was in the Fire Nation."

"Zuzu didn't give you your own house? Cheap as usual."

"He tried, but I figured if I was going to be the guy who patches things up between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation, I couldn't do it from a private villa."

"Sounds more like you had an eye for this girl," Azula said.

He let out a tired sigh. "No, but I think she had a thing for me."

"Lucky you," Azula said. "A snow peasant such as you could do pretty well for himself with the lesser nobility."

"Uh, thanks," he said. "I just hope she's okay."

"There's nothing you can do about it from here, so there's no sense in worrying about it," she said.

"Yeah, that's the attitude that's keeping me going alright."

"It's a good one to have," she said. "At least you'll be free and clear if we win. My future is uncertain in any case."

"Naw, come on, you'll have helped saved the world. I'll back you up, just as long as you're not planning a coup or something. You're not, right?"

She took a slow gulp of tea and set it down. Her face had darkened and become something he was more used to. "I don't know."

"Ugh. You are, aren't you? See..."

"That's not what I meant," she snapped. "I truly don't know what I'll do after this. I won't have anywhere to go."

"Eh, like I said back at the north pole, I'll be your friend as long as you don't get all evil again."

Her laugh was like a slap. "It was a cute thought then, but Zuzu will not allow me my freedom and even if he does I doubt your little friends will be very accepting of you helping me."

"I think enough has happened where you deserve a little tolerance," Sokka said. "My friends aren't complete jerks, you know, and that includes Zuko."

"You don't know Zuko very well, then. I'm a people person, you see, and I know each one of your friends has good cause, in their minds, to hate me. You do, too, but like you said before, you've seen more of me than they have, things they'll never see."

"That's true, I guess," he said. "Are you...sorry for anything that happened during the war?"

"Of course not. Are you sorry for those men you killed in the south pole?"

"I..." He remembered the frozen bodies in the snow, and the broken ones inside the crashed airship. All stiff, frozen in both ice and death. "A little, I guess. It was a war. I don't beat myself up too much over it."

She turned her head slowly towards the stairs, then brushed a strained of hair from her face. In a low voice, she said, "Perhaps I should have dealt with Zuko differently. He's strong in some ways and weak in others, and I may have pushed him away from our family inadvertently. Of course that led to the mess with Mai and Ty Lee."

He tried to keep from looking at her directly as she spoke, lest she freeze up, but once the words were out she seemed to flush with equal parts relief and embarrassment.

"Huh. Yeah, you and Zuko should talk. But that's what I mean, trust is something you have to build and I'm telling you I'll suffer some grief from the others to help you build it. I won't lie, you've got some ideas I'm not cool with, but you're human at least. You're not a monster."

Maybe he had said too much, pushed it too far. Speaking with her reminded him of walking across summer ice.

"Some very influential people would disagree," she said.

He twisted his tea cup in his hands and glanced at the door. He had intended it to be a quick look, but when he noticed the gap seemed wider his eyes lingered. "Well, Zuko made me his adviser before everything went down, so I think he'll take my advice."

"Not on me he won't," she said. "You don't know our family as well as you think you do."

"No, I guess I don't," he said, watching the door from the corner of his eye. He had the insane belief that the door moved when he was not looking directly at it. -That's dumb. It's just a door, it's just a book,- he thought.

A silence had fallen between him and Azula, and it made the door's presence heavier. Sokka felt his attention pulled to it, as though the door were a pit he could fall into. "So, you're sure you don't want to be Fire Lord, then?" he asked, needing to hear his own voice if nothing else.

"You won't believe me if I say no, so why ask?"

"Sorry. Can I ask you a personal question, then?" He no longer cared if she withdrew, so long as he had something to pay attention to besides the door. Nekka had not said how long she might be, and he was beginning to feel foolish for having no plan if she did not come out.

Azula raised her eyebrow, which he took for a "Yes."

"What did you want to do with your life when you got older?"

"What do you mean?"

"While the war was going on what did you want to do after it was over? Your father kinda came up with that Phoenix King stuff at the last minute, so I'm guessing you weren't planning on being Fire Lord until you were kinda old, after he died."

Her eyes rolled and she took a long sip of tea. "I wasn't planning on anything. My destiny was laid out in front of me."

"You mean you didn't want to be Fire Lord?"

"I didn't say that. If you must know, I simply planned on serving father and my country until I assumed the throne. By then the war would have been won, and I'd rule the world."

He could see she liked the idea, despite her denials. "I always thought that was weird, looking forward to your parents dying so you can take their job."

"No, fool!' she snapped. "I never wished for my father to die, but I did look forward to attaining my birthright after nature took its course."

"Still, sounds kinda harsh. What was your plan for getting married? I can't imagine your dad would've let you be single all those years, you'd need an heir, and then wouldn't your husband be the Fire Lord instead of you?"

Her mouth opened to respond, but it closed abruptly into a frown. "I would have changed things," she said. "I'd have found a man who understood his proper role."

Sokka licked the roof of his mouth and sucked in his cheeks. The taste of yellow birch was making his gums tingle, but at least he felt no pain from his wounds so long as he was still. Azula's back had stiffened, he saw, and a grin crept over his face.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked. "Is something funny?"

"Yeah. Your dad would have fixed you up with a nobleman, probably, somebody from Caldera with connections. I've been living in the Harbor City for three years, so I know the type of guy you'd have been stuck with. I'm not sure who I'd feel sorrier for."

Sokka thought the ice he walked on had broken, as her lips had pursed to hide a snarl. He threw a glance at the door, almost hoping to see something more alarming than Azula, but there was only the sliver of torch light cutting into the blackness of the Forbidden Room.

"You should feel sorry for yourself. Even if your future doesn't hold death and madness, you can't mean to be Zuzu's lap dog forever? Or the Avatar's. What did you plan to do with your life before you became the Avatar's groupie?"

For a moment he wondered if he should tell her anything about himself. She already knew a great deal, enough to hurt him. She was frowning at his hesitation, so he nodded reluctantly. "Before we found Aang, I was planning on leaving by myself to go find my dad. I was going to fight alongside him whether he liked it or not."

"And what does a young Water Tribe man do with himself when there's no war to fight?" she asked, resting her chin gently on her hand, enjoying being the one to ask questions.

"I guess I don't know. I spent my whole life in fear of Fire Nation raids, now I live there. It's been kind of a head trip," he said, mimicking her actions with his hand and chin.

"Oh, so now you're the closed off and churlish one?" she said, crossing her arms and turning up her chin.

"That's an honest answer," he said, showing his palms and smiling. "I'm not a complicated man. I want to bring peace to the world, and helping Aang is how I do it. Maybe things would have been different if we hadn't found him."

She let her teeth show behind her fingers as she covered her mouth and laughed softly. "Yes, things would have been different alright. From what I've seen of the Avatar, he would not have lasted long without you as his lackey. Or friend, whatever you want to call it."

"Yeah, I was sorta the team's rock. They'd fight with each other from time to time, but I was usually the peacemaker."

"Ha, ha. You weren't all perfect, then. Just as I suspected."

"Who's perfect? Friends fight, it's natural. See..."

"Spare me the lecture on friendship. If I understand your view of it, then it's something I can do without."

He blew a puff of air from his nose and studied his dwindling tea. "Don't be so sure. Friends are people you can let your guard down around, people you can show yourself to. People you can tell anything to and know they'll understand, or at least..."

Sokka's words trailed off and he waited. A dozen cruel things to say danced on the tip of Azula's tongue, and she was as surprised as he was at what came out. "I thought I had friends like that, until they saw me at my worst and now I don't have them anymore." She smiled as if something sour were in her mouth. "Is that what you're afraid of, Sokka? When your friends learn you could have warned them about all of this, but didn't, what will they do? If we win but they're lost forever, what will your sister say to you when she learns what you've known this entire time?"

His hand was shaking, and he sorely regretted this attempt at conversation. Better to have gone in after Nekka, he thought. Her anger and fear surprised him. "Is that why you're speaking to me like this?" she asked. "Because you're afraid I'll be the only one you have left in the end?"

It was his turn to open his mouth and have nothing come out. Was she right? "I...no," he said, hearing the ice crack. "No, I messed up by not telling them anything, but I don't see how it would have helped. They'll forgive me, and even if they don't that's got nothing to do with me trying to deal with you."

Her anger faded but her eyes took on a wounded, vicious look. "I see, keep your enemies close. That was your reason for bringing me with you all along, right?"

"You're not my enemy."

"Just someone you can't fully trust? Well, you know something? Maybe I don't trust you either. You think your simple-minded peasant act is pretty convincing, well it isn't. I can see you're just as capable a schemer as any nobleman, which means I'll take your promises of friendship with a bowl of salt."

The ice had broken, he thought. She had retreated behind the scary girl, Azula, Princess of Fire. He sighed, figuring anything he said might as well have been to deaf ears. "Fine, you got me. I'm not being nice to you because I like you, it's just you were the only other person there, so...yeah."

"The only other person where? The south pole?"

Sokka suddenly felt exposed and instinctively pulled his arms in around his sore body. "Yeah. That place affected me, too, you know. I thought I was going to die and you're the only reason I didn't, so excuse me if I've got kind of a soft spot for you."

"I wouldn't know much about soft spots," she said, and sipped her tea.

"I heard you talking to Nekka, after I woke up from my ear almost getting lopped off," he said, thinking she would recoil for sure, and that would be the end of all this talk, leaving only the door to consider. "You know what, I'm sorry for what's happened to my friends because of me, but I'm sorry for what happened to you, too. They put you in that asylum thinking you were crazy, not knowing what was really going on. That's on me."

Her lips pursed into a tight point, and her hands shook. Sokka braced for an attack, but it was not anger that gripped her. "Y-you..."

Sokka's eyes had gone wide, but his entire being turned away when he heard the Forbidden Room's door creak. It was moving, letting the wedge of light grown in the blackness beyond the frame. Nekka's boots shuffled heavily on the floor, and when she appeared in the doorway, she hugged a black book the size of her chest. The cap she had worn was gone, her eyes were wide and starring straight ahead at nothing.

Her hair had turned completely white.

-888-

"Oh, man, oh man, this is bad," Sokka kept repeating like a mantra as he paced back and forth, his wounds forgotten.

Nekka sat on the cushion where Sokka had been. The Necronomicon was in her lap, covered by a cloth. Next to her was Azula, sitting with her arm over the girl's back, trying to get her to sip some herbal tea a shaking Professor Zei had brewed. Wan Shi Tong loomed over them like a pillar. "I warned you," said the owl spirit.

"You stupid owl! You didn't say this would happen! Tell us how to fix her!"

The owl was still. Its beak moved rapidly amidst white feathers. "I can do no such thing. Now you see why such knowledge is kept forbidden."

Nekka swayed and had begun to drool, making Azula move away from her while Zei knelt and dabbed her mouth with a cloth.

"Perhaps some sunlight will improve her health," Azula said.

"She's a waterbender, she needs the full moon," said Sokka.

"The sun is good for everyone," said Azula. "Besides, she's not going to get better in here."

Azula got up, wincing as she moved and helped Nekka to her feet. Slowly, she led the damaged scholar towards the stairs as Wan Shi Tong's sigh filled the room like a breeze. "You try my patience, mortal."

Azula casually tossed the Necronomicon onto a cushion and continued leading Nekka away.

"I don't know whose idea it was to keep the spirit world separate from ours, but I totally see why they did. This was payback, wasn't it? She didn't do anything to you!" Sokka said.

"I warned you!" shouted Wan Shi Tong as he loomed. "I have had enough of humans forever. It would be fitting and just for you all to be swept away by Cthulhu. Perhaps some wiser race will rise to take your place in the coming eons, who knows?"

He could tell the spirit was simply being bitter, and sensing there was nothing more to gain from Wan Shi Tong, he turned his attention to the Necronomicon. It had been wrapped in a cloth, which he removed to examine the book's leather cover.

Sokka then opened it to the middle pages, thinking he was being only somewhat suicidal. The owl stood silent over him as he examined the yellow page with its faded ink. The characters all looked vaguely familiar to him, but how they were arranged was confusing and in many places outright incomprehensible. Many of the drawings were of charts, calendars, and tables. He fixed on a few diagrams, noting some depicted creatures he had seen while others showed abominations that he doubted could exist in the same reality he did.

"I'm guessing you have to understand it to have your mind blown," Sokka said, shutting the book tight with a loud thump.

"Not necessarily," said Wan Shi Tong. "I would not look at its pages again, were I you."

"Will she get better? At least enough to talk about what she read?"

Wan Shi Tong chuckled, and bent his head. "And here I thought the firebender was the callous one."

"It's not like that," Sokka said, squaring his shoulders and looking into the owl's night-black eyes. "Nekka believed in what we're doing, she wants to help."

The owl drew up to his full height. Even when his beak was near the ceiling, his voice still sounded like it was next to Sokka's ear. "Some rest and sunlight may do her good, but she is changed forever."

Sokka muttered a curse and began walking away. He was nearly to the stairs when something heavy hit him high in the back, making him stumble forward. "Ow!" He turned to see the Necronomicon on the floor at his feet. Wan Shi Tong stood motionless, like a tall tree.

"Sokka-style. I learned it," said the owl spirit. "Best be sure you return that tome. Once I breathe life back into my knowledge seekers, they will resume their duties, which includes fetching overdue library books and punishing book thieves."

Sokka gathered up the heavy book, wondering if it was truly safe to touch or keep around. "Thanks," he said, expecting no further words from Wan Shi Tong, and getting none as he went up the stairs to the reading room.

-888-

The heat pressed against him from all sides and within moments Sokka felt his skin prickle with sweat. Appa stood in the short shadow cast by the library as the sun shone directly above them. The bison's large, flat tongue was hanging out, and Sokka stepped past Azula and Nekka who were sitting on the library's steps, to get the bison some water. After setting the Necronomicon down he emptied three skins into Appa's mouth and was grunted at for his trouble. "I know, I know, big guy, but this is all for Aang. Trust me." He patted Appa's dry nose and took a smaller skin of water that hung from his saddle. Taking a drink, he brought the skin over to Nekka where he paused for a moment before dumping it on her head.

Azula was both puzzled and amused as the girl sputtered. Sokka knelt and began to feel better as the water seemed to help the battered scholar regain something akin to consciousness. "Wha...?"

"Water, yes," Sokka said. "Cool, clean water. Bright sunlight, warm sand." He took her hand in his and squeezed it. "Nekka, it's me, Sokka. Come back, we need you."

Her eyes were flat and dead, but they moved to fix on him. Her head dipped in what might have been a nod.

"Is that...did you steal the book?" asked Azula.

"Naw, the owl let me have it, but let's work on getting it off Nekka's mind for right now," he said, blocking Nekka's view of the Necronomicon. "Nekka, say something to me. Anything."

"Ia, Ia, Cthulhu fhtagn," she muttered. "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange eons, even death may die."

"Forget about that. Tell me your name."

"Don't tell her to forget, she needs to remember. That was the entire point of all this!" said Azula. She frowned at his dirty look, but offered no more argument.

"Your name. Tell me your name. Where are you from? Come on, you're safe now. We're outside, it's daylight, you never have to go back in there."

Nekka blinked and her lips moves soundlessly. "Nekka. Your name is Nekka. You're from the Northern Water Tribe..."

"Let me," said Azula, and took Nekka by the chin, turning her head and moving her face closer. "Bury it. Lock it all away. Imagine a large, metal box. See yourself opening it and putting it all inside, every last bit. See yourself shutting the lid. Fastening all the iron clasps. Close the lock. Now wrap it in a chain. Then another, and another, until the box is wrapped in chains..."

Sokka sat back and watched. Azula held Nekka by the face, keeping her focused. She repeated her narrative several times, describing a box in greater and greater detail and how it was to be locked, chained, and buried in increasingly elaborate ways. This went on for some time until Nekka shook her head and pulled away to cover her face.

Azula stood and drank what little was left in the water skin Sokka had used to douse Nekka. "That's a trick the asylum healers won't show you," she said. "They're always on about opening up and talking about things that should be left shut away."

Another long silence, and Nekka began to rock back and forth. "What have I done?" Sokka whispered.

-You incurred a casualty,- said the voice that sounded like his own.

-Shut up. Stop telling me things I already know.-

He wiped thick, oily sweat from his forehead and with a headache went for a walk around the library in search of a shadier place for Appa to rest. The library was built like a palace on the outside, and sure enough he found a large stone stable with a roof and hundreds of stalls for the animals that had once borne visitors here. He fetched Appa, who was far more content with this new area, then took two water skins from the saddle and returned to Nekka and Azula.

The scholar had stopped rocking and her face was uncovered. Even in the harsh sun it looked pale and washed out. Her eyes had little to focus on, and she seemed to be looking at something far off yet there was only a high wall of sand slowly falling down despite the canvass shields that had been erected at the top to prevent the hole from filling in.

"I'm sick of this place. When are we leaving?" asked Azula.

Scratching his head, Sokka thought of returning to the place they had met June, but then thought perhaps the Southern Water Tribe might be a better option. The idea of Azula meeting Gran Gran was funny to him, but some jokes were best left untold. "I'm not sure yet. I'm going to go talk to Professor Zei, maybe he has some advice. You probably know what Nekka's going through better than anyone, so you can help her better than I can. We need her to get better, Azula."

She sneered. "I'll do what I can, I but my understanding of weak-minded people is limited."

"The tiniest amount of compassion from you would go pretty far," he said. "Dig deep."

"Leave her to me," Azula said, narrowing her eyes as Sokka went up the stairs and back into the giant library's cool, dark interior.

The library no longer felt haunted, but Sokka moved quickly all the same, following the sound of scrolls being shuffled. He found Professor Zei on the far side of the main room, behind a row of toppled book shelves.

Zei turned his attention only momentarily from a pile of unfurled scrolls to acknowledge he was being addressed. "I take it you'll be leaving soon?"

"Yeah. You should probably lie low for a while, too. Old Squid-Face seems to be in the loop somehow when it comes to what we're up to. He might send something ugly to check if we're still here."

Professor Zei made a show of turning towards Sokka, but then went back to his work. He fumbled with a scroll and it tumbled from his hand, unfurling as it rolled down the pile. He made a flustered sound and muttered something Sokka could not make out before abandoning his project for a moment. "You're the ones who should lie low. They'll be after you double-time now."

Sokka rubbed the cooling sweat off the back of his neck and no longer wished to talk to the bedraggled professor, but he felt as though he were missing something. "I asked you before, but are you sure you don't know anything about those things that fought along side us?"

"The ghouls? I would have said they were fairy tales had I not seen them. I'm afraid I know nothing more about them, truly."

"And you're sure there's no violin anywhere in this place? Nothing that would sound like a violin?"

"These would be good questions for Wan Shi Tong, but he appears to have retired to his secret place. He must rest if he wishes to revive the knowledge seekers and set this place in order," said Zei, moving faster like a hunted man.

"There's one other thing I wanted to ask you, about the calendar room. Do you ever use it?"

"Not recently," said Zei, his eyes darting around. "It's very delicate and Wan Shi Tong does not like to see it used too often."

"It was set to the spring equinox when I saw it earlier. Do you know if those monsters or that priest they were with did it or not?"

Zei shrugged, stepping past Sokka to work on organizing a pile of unfurled and torn scrolls left near a pillar. "I couldn't say, my boy. It's like I told you, I was hiding for much of the ransacking. Why do you think they would have tampered with it?"

"I don't know," he said. "Was there something you wanted to see me about? You had asked before."

"Oh, well, it seems silly now, but I was going to tell you to be careful about what you read in some of the ancient texts," Zei said, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Not because they're dangerous, er, well, clearly they are, but you have to take what you read with some skepticism. Translations can be tricky and authors are not always reliable."

The man's sheepish smile made Sokka pity him for some reason he could not place. "I know what you'll say, but do you want to come with us?"

"No, I think is where I belong," said Zei. "But I appreciate the offer. I'll tell you what, I'll do what research I can into your, our, problem, and perhaps Wan Shi Tong will allow a knowledge seeker to deliver a message."

"We're grateful for all the help we can get," said Sokka.

"Eh, one more word of advice, then?" Zei said, his voice low. He moved closer to Sokka, who wrinkled his nose. "You're probably thinking your next stop should be Ba Sing Se, correct?"

"We haven't decided what's next, but that does sound like a pretty good idea. Or it would, except you're saying it kinda weird, so I'm thinking it's not,"

Zei nodded, appraising Sokka. "You won't find too many people who'll be very receptive to you at the university. It's a fantastic school, don't get me wrong, but a bit, eh, conservative. The whole city is that way, come to think of it."

Sokka nodded and rubbed his chin. "You never heard any rumors about a cult in the city? Made up of people who looked a little fishy, literally?"

Zei hummed, thinking. "Nothing like that, really. I mean, Ba Sing Se is big, so there's plenty of room for strange people to come and go and do as they please, so I couldn't say no for sure."

"Okay. I was thinking Omashu might be a better choice anyway."

"Really? I hear King Bumi is an odd one..."

Sokka laughed as he turned to leave Professor Zei to his work. "You can say that again, professor. Well, goodbye and thanks for your help. Tell Wan Shi Tong the same."

"I will," said Zei. "And tell Nekka I said goodbye, when she's better."

"Yeah," said Sokka, wanting to be out of the library with its heavy stench of paper and stone. He felt like he needed another cup of yellow birch tea for his head.

Outside, leaning against a pillar, Sokka watched Azula sitting next to Nekka. They both sat in the shadow of a column that held up the library's massive stone awning. It was like watching a tiger seal exhibit some unnatural behavior. Azula had her hand on Nekka's shoulder and was whispering something to her.

Sokka walked around the veranda where piles of sand had collected, trapped by the cool breeze formed by the crater and the hot air above them. He found Appa sleeping. The bison cracked an eyelid when Sokka drew closer, and grunted before closing it again. "Sorry, big guy, just checking on ya. We got a long night ahead of us."

Appa let out a quiet roar and went back to snoozing. Sokka thought it would be wise to take a nap himself, but he did not wish to do so outside Azula's sight. Instead, he climbed onto Appa's back and from their supplies he found June's map, which she had graciously forgotten to ask returned. Omashu was within reach, given their water supply, but there could be no harm in exploring other options, such as the air temples.

He pondered them for some time, and had eliminated the Western Air Temple as being too close to the Fire Nation for comfort when he heard something like distant thunder. Appa heard it, too, and rose to full wakefulness, jostling Sokka as he stood on all six legs. "Whoa, boy. What's that?"

Sliding off Appa's saddle, he landed on the stone floor of the stable where he could feel the rumbling in his feet. "The library is sinking! Ah, stupid owl!"

Running from the stable he shouted and waved for Appa to follow. Seeing the bison was coming along, he ran faster and nearly collided with Azula as she came around a colossal pillar. She was carrying the Necronomicon under her arm, and dragging Nekka by her hand. The girl's head was swirling around in confusion, her white hair tossed like an old mop.

"Something is coming," said Azula.

"What? No, the library is sinking."

She shook her head and looked up at the immense structure. "No, it isn't. Something is coming this way. Something big."

Azula walked past him, and as soon as he turned to follow many tons of dry earth fell from the crater wall onto the other side of the library, filling the basin in a cloud of dust and light sand. Sokka reached out, grabbed Azula and all three went towards the sound of Appa's bellowing.

She was right. The deep vibration in his chest and head was different from what he had felt three years before when the library sank. They boarded Appa's saddle and he did not need to say "yip-yip!" to make the bison take off vertically, rising above the sand cloud to clear the top of the pit.

Azula cried out in fear, making Sokka whip his head around to see what could shake her so. The dust and sand that had been kicked up made it hard to see clearly, but when he grasped the enormity of the thing, his jaw dropped

Thirty men joining their hands together could not have encircled the segmented body that writhed in the pit next to the library, knocking down some of its smaller spires as it swayed. It was a gigantic, eyeless worm covered in thousands of long, bristle-like hairs. It toppled towards them, over the lip of the crater to reveal a toothy, jawless mouth surrounded by tentacles.

It was contracting and expanding its body, damaging the library further as it pushed itself out of the crater. Sokka's heart was pounding and he was dizzy, but he did not turn around again until it was clear the beast could not match Appa's speed.

They were some miles away from it when Azula finally turned to him, her amber eyes wild with unmasked terror.

To be continued...


	13. The Doom that Came to the Air Temple

The ice flakes that hit her red and frozen face when she looked up made it feel all the more raw, but she needed to see the Northern Air Temple if she was to keep going forward. The snowfield continued on for some miles yet before reaching the gorge on the northern side of the mountain the temple was built on. She was tempted to use her bending to propel herself over the snow, but she wanted to conserve her energy and avoid being seen.

Katara had barely escaped the Northern Water Tribe capital with her life, and fortunately only her hip bore the mark of an ice spike sent her way by a man whose eyes were too far apart and whose hairline was prematurely receding. She wondered if that brave soldier, Dekken, had survived, and in wondering that she wondered a great deal more about who was alive and who was not.

-Just keep walking, one foot at a time,- she thought, and with her head bent and her hood pulled tight she trudged faster, her snowshoes sending ice over the crusted snow like broken glass.

Her thoughts returned to the events of the past few days, trying to make sense of them. All she knew was that she had been wise to enter the Northern Water Tribe in secret, and lucky to have met with the soldier, Dekken. Her fortune had run dry, however, for Dekken knew little about where Sokka had gone, only the direction and that it had been on the back of Appa. It was possible the Mechanist and his people had seen them and could tell her more.

Alone with her thoughts on the snowfield, Katara longed simply to be near other people, to tell them her troubles in safety. Nothing made sense anymore, not since Sokka had left, and things had only gotten worse upon Zuko's return.

-Not Zuko,- she thought. -Iroh knew it wasn't Zuko as soon as he saw him.-

She knew the truth for herself upon seeing Toph and Suki. Given some time, she had no doubt she would have seen Mai and Ty Lee for what they were.

-Just keep walking. There's food and shelter at the temple, focus on that for right now. Sokka knows something. Find Sokka.-

Thinking of him was her only hope, but it was a cold, painful feeling. Why had he kept so many secrets from her? The others she could understand, but not her.

When she reached the gorge separating the snowfield from the mountain, her insides burned with anger, fueling her imagination as to the torments Sokka would suffer after she hugged him and got the truth from him.

With flowing motions of her arms, she bent the snow and ice behind her into a long, thin bridge that spanned the deep gorge. Concentrating, she made it solid and beveled it in the middle so she would be less apt to lose her footing. When she was on the other side, she flicked her wrists and bridge turned to water, leaving no trace of her passing. Close to the mountain now, she bent the frozen water beneath her feet and rode it up the steep, winding pass, knowing the turmoil she was causing in the snow would not be noticed now.

It took her an hour to reach the long steps of the Northern Air Temple and on a day like today she did not expect to see people using gliders, nor did she.

She did expect to be greeted by someone, and when there was no one at the entrance to the main courtyard, she halted and listened, hearing only the wind. The Northern Air Temple had been built to allow the passage of air, and hence sound carried easily throughout the structure. The sky was gray from the blizzard sweeping from the north, but to the west the sun was a dim yellow ball behind clouds.

-Where is everyone?- she wondered. -Aang and I visited here months ago. Teo had improved his glider.-

In the large, circular courtyard at the temple's center snow had piled up in the corners and cold wind blew through the hallways both on the ground and the floors above. Katara saw the pipe and gear mechanisms the Mechanist and his community had created, but there was no sign of their gliders, tools, or anything else.

-They wouldn't just abandon the temple like this, not without saying something to Aang. And this didn't happen within the past few weeks, either.-

How she knew that she could not say. Intuition, perhaps. Her confusion was matched only by her disappointment, and she let out a long sigh before moving to one of the large corridors in the hope of finding some leftover food.

"Disappointed? So were we," said a voice that sent panic through her body. She spun to see Azula step out of the shadows behind a pillar and into the courtyard. She wore a light blue tunic and her black hair was tied behind her, leaving her bangs to frame her cruel face. Her skin bore a reddish tinge, as if she had too much sun recently, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

"You! Where's Sokka? Tell me, now!" Katara threw back her hood and raised a stream of water from the snow on the stone tiles.

"Catching up on his beauty sleep. He's had a long week, and so have I."

"Your week is about to get cut short if you don't tell me where Sokka is."

"Oh, I'll take you right to him, don't worry. Right after we settle something." Azula's hands came alight with blue fire as she walked down a short flight of steps into the courtyard. "I'm not in peak shape, but you look like you've gotten a little plump around the edges, so I suppose we're even," she said.

A ball of fire came streaking at Katara's chest. She was able to avoid it by hitting it with her water whip and turning to her side. Using the snow around her, she bent a thin sheet of ice in front of Azula then ran around it, hoping to flank her when she tried to force her way through. Azula had not fallen for the trick, and instead took the risky move of leaping atop the flimsy ice wall to send fireballs at Katara, who ducked under them to let them scorch the floor behind her.

She turned the wall to liquid then caught Azula in an ice cradle as she fell. She was encased around her waist only momentarily, breaking free by setting her fist on fire and punching the ice. Azula had not been lying about not being in top shape. She moved like she had been injured, but if she was fatigued it did not show. She sent several fire balls at Katara, who dodged them by moving in a circle without giving ground.

Azula used a blast of fire to propel herself high into the air from where she sent arcs of flame whipping downward. Rather than deflect the fire with her water, Katara dodged the flames and formed a mattress of ice shards where Azula would land.

Katara was hit in the leg by a fire bolt and knocked off balance. Her thick clothing protected her from a burn and when Azula used her bending to slow her fall and melt the sharp ice, it left her open. Katara caught her opponent hard in the chest with a powerful water whip that knocked the wind from the firebender's lungs and sent her sprawling backward.

Pressing her advantage, Katara found her leg was hotter than she thought. The moment she took to put water on it was all the time Azula needed to get back on her feet. She was still struggling to pull air into her lungs, but was back in motion.

A cone of fire came at Katara, and she threw herself to the ground, avoiding it. As she dove, she spread her arms out, sending the water she had been working with towards Azula, where the firebender had to do a quick dance to keep her feet from being caught when it froze. When Katara brought her arms together, the edges of the icy sheet she created closed in, forcing Azula to once again propel herself upwards using her fire.

Spinning herself around on her hip, Katara used her legs to send twin whips of ice at the airborne firebender, again hitting her in the chest and this time sending her into a hard fall. Katara wasted no time in getting up and rushing in. She sidestepped an arc of fire Azula kicked in her direction and with a two-handed pulling motion brought a sheet of ice over her fallen enemy, trapping her.

"Spit fire at me, and I'll freeze your head," said Katara, holding a ball of water as she stood over Azula who was trying to wiggle free of the ice trap. Her eyes were wide and her teeth clenched. Katara felt the hate radiating off Azula's face, but did not flinch.

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Azula gained control of herself enough to speak. "You've gotten better," said Azula.

"And don't you forget it," Katara said. "You seem to have gotten worse, actually."

"Like I said, it's been a long week," Azula hissed. "And for the record, had I been trying to kill you this would have gone differently."

"Same here," said Katara, turning the ball of water she held into a long ice spike and twirling it. "Now, admit defeat and I'll let you up."

She got ready to dodge a cloud of fire, and was almost eager to send the long, dull side of the ice spike crashing into Azula's face, but all her opponent did was scowl. She was about to encase Azula's head in ice, when her now-blue lips parted. "Fine, I yield."

"We can have a rematch later, so no sneak attacks, got it?"

"Agreed."

Katara turned the ice to water, soaking Azula who sat up into a mediating position. Steam began to rise off her.

"Where's Sokka?"

"Give me a moment to stave off hypothermia," Azula said, a slight chatter in her voice. "There. The last time I was that cold I had to get a little too close to your brother for warmth."

Katara cocked an eyebrow. "Did you now? I'm sure it was horrible for the both of you."

"It was, but he proved himself useful in many ways," Azula said, rising to her feet and walking quickly ahead of Katara.

"How many ways?"

"You don't want to know."

-She's messing with me. Ignore her,- Katara thought, following Azula down a long passage and into a chamber the size of a modest igloo. A fire was burning inside a cook stove. Two cots were on opposite sides of the room. One contained an old woman, her white hair being all Katara could see outside the blankets while the other contained her brother, who slept without a blanket or a shirt. His body was covered in bruises, cuts, and abrasions, and she bent to see he had been stitched up in many places. She noted the old bandage around his head, covering one ear. He was sound asleep, snoring lightly.

"Did I mention we've had a rough week?"

"Who's the old woman?" Katara said, still unsure if she wanted to wake Sokka just yet.

"One of your northern comrades. Her hair was brown when we left the north pole. Her name is Nekka."

"Nekka?"

"Or something like that. She's a scholar specializing in precisely the area of ancient history we've become so interested in. Her hair turned white when her mind broke from reading a certain book we almost died trying to check out of a library. It's all a very long story, and I suggest you have your brother fill you in on all the fun little details."

Azula poured herself a cup of what smelled like yellow birch bark tea from a kettle heated by the stove and sat down.

"Where is everyone else? This place is supposed to be inhabited," said Katara.

"Sokka was wondering the same thing," Azula said. The sound of her brother's name on Azula's lips was jarring to the ear. "They left a fair amount of food here and some other things. They seem to have left in a bit of a panic."

Katara steeled herself, not wanting Azula to see her upset. "You should know something about Zuko and the others," she said.

"That he's back from wherever he went and is putting bounties out on us? We know."

"It's not just Zuko. Everyone who went with him is back, only it's not them. The people who knew them can tell something is wrong...your uncle got thrown in the asylum over it."

"Poor uncle, the tea they serve there is terrible," said Azula. "And what of my double?"

Katara shook her head. "Last I saw her, she was fine. The fake Zuko doesn't seem to know she's not really you. No one does."

Azula smiled wryly and swirled her tea as it steamed. "Perhaps your little ruse had a benefit you did not foresee," she said. "Our enemy has been sending weaklings after us, likely not counting on my superior bending abilities. The only trouble I've had was at the desert library."

"Wan Shi Tong's library?"

"Are there two out there? Yes. At any rate, I don't think we can stay here for very long. Our enemy has stopped playing around."

Katara shook her head. "Slow down, I have no idea what's going on here. Who is our enemy, exactly?"

Azula sighed, but she was smiling. "You'll just have to wait for dear Sokka to wake up and tell you everything. I'm no good with stories."

"Dear Sokka?"

"Did I call him that? How unsettling. Well, it's not so surprising. Out of your entire tribe, I've come to hate him the least." She sipped her tea, then took a longer drink before setting the cup down. "In fact, why don't you keep a watch over him. I'm going to go check on Appa and make sure he's alright."

"Appa?"

"The Avatar's sky bison?"

"I know who Appa is! Fine, go. I'll keep an eye on things here."

"See that you do. We're not safe anywhere."

-888-

Sokka awoke with a powerful hunger and the need to shake the memory of the dreams he had experienced. They had involved long, dark tunnels larger than anything built by earthbenders. What made them and where they were exactly, he thought perhaps he should know, but he was in no mood to mull over such things.

When he rolled over he thought he was still dreaming, then thought he had gone mad. He bolted upright, heedless of his stinging wounds as he tightly embraced his sister, feeling her warmth to confirm her reality. When he was convinced she was not the result of too much yellow birch bark tea he braced himself for her wrath, but she held off in light of his wounds.

He told her everything from start to finish, leaving out only certain personal details of his inner life.

"I should have told you everything years ago," he said, his voice breaking. "This is all my fault, Katara everything. I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking..."

"Shhh," she said, hugging him. "I understand why you kept it to yourself, and I know you wouldn't have if you thought there was any chance of something like this happening."

He nodded, and wiped his eyes, surprised at how afraid he had been of telling her how many secrets he had kept. Still, he searched her face for the slightest crease or sign of hardness, not fully trusting her forgiveness.

She kissed him on the forehead. "I'll wait until your stitches are out before I punish you, okay?"

Sokka smiled and winced at the same time, hoping she would just forget about it and not encase him in ice or a giant snowball. "So, what's it been like on your end?" he asked.

"I was happy when Zuko returned, but that didn't last long. Iroh was there, of course, but he saw something was wrong right away. It was horrible. Zuko, or that thing that looks like him, had him committed to the asylum Azula was in. I kept my head down, but I could see the others weren't right, either. Things didn't feel right, I don't know how to explain it, so I left. I couldn't get to Suzi or Piandao, but it didn't seem like Zuko knew she wasn't really Azula."

"Yeah, we suspected that," said Sokka, explaining the names on the bounty posters.

"I went to the Northern Water Tribe where we'd planned to go together and I ran into Dekken, who said he'd met you and helped you escape. He didn't get a chance to tell me much else. I guess that freaky cult knew I'd be coming."

Sokka cracked his knuckles and rubbed his hands together, wondering how they had known to lie in wait for Katara. Dumb luck? Spies? "We came here hoping to find the Mechanist," said Sokka. "Azula and I agree, it might be too late to go to anyone higher up."

"Azula? I can't believe you're trusting her with anything. If she wants something kept secret, chances are she thinks she can gain from it. We should go see Bumi. He'll listen. The fake Zuko has probably got the Earth King and Chief Arnook pretty well turned against us by now."

Sokka rubbed his chin, pretending to think while he swallowed his desire to defend Azula. "You're right about the last two, and Bumi could probably help, but given we'd be putting all of Omashu in danger if we went there, we can't risk it."

"What? You're not making sense. If we go to Omashu, we can get that Nekka girl there the help she needs and maybe figure out a way to get our friends back. There's no point in keeping this all a secret and doing it ourselves anymore! It hasn't been working anyway."

"I disagree," said Azula, entering the room as though she had been standing outside the door for some time. "Not only is our story unbelievable to those who haven't seen the proper evidence, this cult we've been dealing with has its tentacles just about everywhere. If we go to a city, we're vulnerable, and if we lose either that girl or the Necronomicon, we're done for."

"She's right," said Sokka. "If we went to Omashu a lot of people would get hurt and we might not get anything out of it. Azula's logic makes sense, and believe me, we can trust her on this." He locked his gaze with Azula's and she met it, unblinking.

Katara's eyes narrowed and she laughed while her mouth turned into a sneer. "Trust Azula? Can you hear yourself? I don't know what's been going on between you two, but it looks like you've forgotten how many of your friends and family members she's tried to kill. She almost killed Aang, remember"

His clenched fists sprang open and he slapped his knees. "I haven't forgotten anything! In fact, I've learned quite a bit since the war and maybe you should do the same."

Katara's face was like a particularly grim stretch of ice. Slowly, she turned to leave. "Move," she said when she came to Azula, who stood aside only as far as she had to so the other could pass.

Azula was smiling when she sat down, but she did not look at Sokka.

"What did you say to her?" he asked.

"Nothing. We had a little tussle out in the courtyard just to blow off some tension, then I led her to you. I told her you were the best one to tell her about what's been happening. She doesn't like me, nor I her, so I thought it best to make myself scarce."

"Oh yeah? You think you can still lie to me? I thought we were past this."

Rolling her eyes, Azula crossed her arms and scowled. "Oh, very well, perhaps I made it sound like you an I were on friendlier terms than we really were."

"Just to annoy her? Don't you think we have enough problems without this kind of stuff?"

She made a disgusted sound, and shook her head. "I was merely testing the waters and got the reaction I expected. I didn't exactly tell her we were dating or anything."

Sokka's face flushed red and he hid his cheeks in his hands, feigning tiredness. "Look, just don't play head games with my sister, please?"

Azula stood up and went for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To force the issue."

Sokka did not move for a few moments, letting Azula get ahead. He put on his tunic and took his boomerang with him into the hall, making sure it was loose in its sheath.

-888-

Azula pulled air in slowly through her nose, and let it pass slowly through the thin slit between her lips, soothing the rage she felt at having to deal with two insufferable Water Tribe peasants who would have done well to keep their mouths shut and listen to her.

-Stay calm. A firm, steady hand is what's needed here...-

-Burn them.-

Azula shuddered at the voice and continued to breathe slowly in through her nose and out her mouth, hoping she would not hear it again. Hearing it meant she needed sleep badly, but for now she preferred the voices in her head over the nightmares.

Breathing took her mind off the issue. For an airbender temple, the smell of musk and oil was thick in the halls. It was a good smell, one that reminded her of the dockyards or the bowels of a powerful battleship. She preferred lemon incense and heated air, but these other odors held their charms.

The Water Tribe girl was standing in the courtyard with her arms crossed, facing the snow covered archway that led to the steps down the mountain. Katara spotted her immediately.

"Back for round two? So soon?" asked Katara. "Sure you don't want a nap first?"

"No. I came to talk."

"Your words are as dangerous as your firebending."

Azula strode towards Katara with her fingers locked and tucked above her waist.

With a lazy swing of her arm, Katara bent some ice into a water whip and started forming it into shapes before her. "I said I didn't wish to fight," Azula said.

"I heard you. I'm just bending some water for fun. Is that alright with you, or would you like to lock me in prison? Or maybe just kill me, like you did my mother?"

"I didn't kill..."

"No, but you would have. I can't blame everyone in the Fire Nation for what happened to my tribe, but I can blame the people pulling the strings, and you're most definitely one of them. And you can just stuff your fake apologies..."

"I haven't apologized and I don't plan to!" Azula shouted. Katara's water whip became a sharp ice spear. Azula's heart began to beat quicker and her limbs felt empty. -She's more violent than I thought. Maybe we'll fight after all.-

-Yes, this time kill.-

-Shut up.-

"I came out here to reach an understanding with you, like I have with Sokka. I know your original plan..."

"Stop calling him Sokka. He's not Sokka to you."

"You and Sokka's plan was to keep an eye on me while you traveled the world in search of information. Well, I'm not your prisoner. I'm a team member whether you like it or not."

"I'm not liking it at all," Katara said, letting her ice spike fall and shatter at their feet. "And if you came out here to make some kind of peace with me, it's not going to happen."

"I didn't say peace, I said understanding. We need to figure out our next move as a team and we can't do that as we are now."

"That's something for me and Sokka to talk about. What you think doesn't matter to me."

"Well that's too bad, because at some point you're going to have to trust me a little."

Katara's laugh was loud and short. "You must think I'm a fool. I'll talk to Sokka later about what we should do and if you end up not liking it then you can get lost. He's told me all about what's been going on, and guess what? Turns out I can handle it. He doesn't need you to confide in, he doesn't need your bending, he doesn't need you at all anymore."

Feeling like she had blocked high when her opponent had struck low, Azula stepped backward, her hand covering one of the deeper cuts under her tunic. "Don't say I didn't try," Azula said quietly as she turned. She got halfway to the steps leading up and out of the courtyard when a snowball exploded on the back of her head.

She pivoted and the death glare she held was met by another snowball.

When her eyes were clear she saw Katara standing with one hand on her hip while in the palm of the other spun a third snowball.

-Perhaps a lightning bolt would adjust your attitude,- Azula thought, sensing agreement from the thing she had locked deep inside her.

But her arms refused to make the deadly motions required to split her chi and form lighting. Sokka would be rather upset if his sister's heart were to stop, even briefly, and so she turned back around with the silent vow that if another snowball hit her then Sokka was simply going to have to deal with what happened next.

No snowballs came and so she never learned what she would have done had the water witch pushed her too far. She was only slightly surprised to see Sokka standing a dozen paces down the air temple corridor. "I'm guessing it didn't go well," he said as a clump snow fell from Azula's shoulder.

"You were eavesdropping, you would know," she said.

"She'll come around, give her time," he said. "She didn't waste the guy who killed our mom when she had the chance, so I think she can learn to be in the same room with you."

"Shut up. She's right, I should go away."

-Self-pity, a new low,- Azula thought. From somewhere in the black depths of her brain, something snarled and gibbered.

"What? Hey..." She had walked past him, and he ran to catch up. "You're not serious. Where would you go?"

She stopped and turned to face him. "Don't worry, I won't go back to the Fire Nation and try to take over, which I know is the only thing you're worried about. I don't know what I'll do, but I certainly won't be dragged around by you two fools into another disaster! You heard her, you don't need me anymore."

Azula did not expect to be shoved into the wall. She did not expect to see Sokka's face an inch from her own, his blue eyes wide and unblinking.

"That's enough. Okay, yeah, one of the reasons I brought you along was to keep an eye on you, but like I said before it's more than that. It's like every time we get somewhere you decide you want to take us six steps backward, either with your head games, your jerk attitude...you know what, if you want me to stop trying, tell me so right now and that'll be the end of it."

He was serious. Azula felt his breath, his heat, and starred dumbly into his blue eyes. She felt sick, and wanted to strike him but her arms would not move. Between her ears there was silence. Quivering, her mouth opened so she could say something, but instead her head darted forward and her lips touched his.

"I had to see it to believe it," said Katara, who stood several yards down the corridor. Her arms were folded over her chest and while her mouth was pressed into a flat smile, her eyes glittering. "Sokka, Sokka, Sokka," she said, coming their way.

"I...it...no..." Sokka's face was red, his eyes blinking rapidly. "It's not what it..."

"Looks like, blah, blah, blah. You know, I tried to tell Suki you weren't like that, and when you declared your love for Suzi...oh, that makes so much sense now by the way...I thought you were just being an idiot, but I guess the rumors were true. Watch out, princess, this one's kind of a heart-breaker."

Sokka stepped away from Azula, and his head kept turning between her and his sister. He continued to stammer, unable to form a complete sentence. Azula pressed herself against the wall and wished she could pass through the cold stone.

"You..." Sokka said, turning to her when Katara was out of sight.

"I-I don't know...I didn't...I wasn't try to..."

-You're babbling! Stop babbling!-

Sokka clapped his hands slowly, and she was paralyzed. "Oh, bravo. Bravo. Not your acting just now, but timing that like you did. What could you possibly have to gain from all this!? Do you just enjoy seeing people mad at each other?"

"Sokka..."

"Shut up! There's something seriously wrong with you that's never going to be fixed. You know what, go wherever you want. Come along with us if you like, just don't talk to me anymore. I'll call you when something needs to be destroyed."

He stormed off and her paralysis slowly lifted. Her pride kept her from crying until he had disappeared into the gloom of the inner temple.

-888-

Nekka was awake and sat up on her own. Sokka ran a brush through her disheveled white hair and fixed her a bowl of porridge which he flavored with red berries and cinnamon that they had found in the temple storehouse. Nekka held the bowl and to his relief remembered what food was well enough to eat unassisted.

"Hey, Nekka. How are you feeling?" he asked. Her response was a nod that meant nothing. "I'm pretty sure we've got until the spring equinox to sort this all out, but try to get better soon, okay? We need you."

He laughed. -If only you could ask people to stop being messed up,- he thought. -Wouldn't that be nice?-

Seeing that Nekka was content to sit still and look at the floor he laid down on his cot, not trying to sleep, but to make his lips stop tingling. -Go find her, apologize,- he thought. -No, don't. She deserved it. It was all a game she was playing.-

-No it wasn't.-

-Oh, and how would you know?-

The Old One did not respond and while he expected this, it was irritating all the same. He sat up, grabbed the nearest thing to him, which was a rolled up winter coat, and hurled it across the room. "This is so stupid," he growled. "A monster wants to eat the universe and here I am messed up by a bunch of women. That does it. Time for Team Sokka to get back on track."

On his feet, he pointed at Nekka who looked up from her porridge to fix him with a glassy-eyed stare. "Hang tight. We're going to get you some real help," he said, and went charging from the room, heading to the part of the temple where he would find Appa and likely Katara.

He found the bison, but no Katara. "Of course she's avoiding me," he said to Appa, who grunted at him and set his head down to resume his nap.

After patting the bison's nose he went deeper into the temple, following the corridors where pipes still circulated hot water, making the halls toasty warm. He wondered how long they would continue to work without maintenance, and where the people who installed them had gone.

Sokka had to light one of the lanterns left behind by the temple's former inhabitants. He used a flint and steel he kept handy for when his firebending companion was not around, and in the lamplight he thought perhaps he should seek her out first. -No, I got to get Katara on board here first. It's not like Azula will get far anyway,- he thought.

The darkness was like something that had been waiting, perhaps for Azula and her fire to leave. Sokka kept his free hand on the hilt of his boomerang and it made him feel better until he saw a bright light ahead of him.

The light was coming from a large room, and its source surprised him. A large blue-green crystal, the biggest he had seen outside of the Earth Kingdom, had been tipped into its side, knocked off a pedestal it had presumably been set upon.

Wrapped around one end of the crystal was a coil of copper wire which connected to a wall of broken dials and gauges. How the crystal was producing light he could not say but he then noticed hundreds of smaller crystals scattered on the floor. Some were still wrapped in copper wire but most had come loose.

The room looked like an airbender had been taken by a surprise sneeze. Every piece of furniture had been knocked over, every scroll and piece of paper scattered. He sensed it had not been done deliberately, or at least not with any methodology save for a chalk board that had been toppled and the writing on it mostly erased. From the edges he could see it had been some kind of math equation.

"Looks like the Mechanist has been busy. Doing what, though?"

He looked over the scrolls, but all they contained was numbers and letters meant to stand in for numbers. Sokka knew this to be an advanced form of math, something he had studied briefly during his first year in the Fire Nation, but had sadly put aside for more political pursuits.

The room nagged at him like a pebble in his boot, but knowing he would learn nothing more by being in it he continued his search for Katara. He found her in a chamber too large for their lanterns to illuminate entirely.

She turned and all he saw for an instant was her wide, blue eyes. He had planned on being stern with her, then appealing to her reason, but it all fell away at the sight of her.

"Hey, did you see those crystals back there?" he asked, hoping she had merely become lost. "What's wrong?"

"Something else is in here," she whispered. "In the temple. I heard it."

Sokka moved deeper into the room which was filled with stone benches and pedestals for resting and meditation. His lantern fell on three arched passages that led into pitch darkness. Sokka held his breath and could hear the wick in the lantern slowly turning to ash.

"Who's there!?" he shouted.

"Who's there! What is it! Run glider no everyone get out! Submarine!"

The scatter of words were in his voice, but distorted by dozens of mouths. They then began gibbering in a hundred different voices, forming the baseline to an almost musical cacophony.

"Run!" he shouted, grabbing Katara's arm. She needed no prompting and kept up easily. When he was out of the dark and into a wide, gloomy passage he tossed the lantern behind him where it shattered, staring a small fire.

"Sokka, what was that?" Katara shouted, grabbing his tunic.

"A shoggoth. One of the things we found at the south pole. We have to get out of here now! Get to Appa, fly out to the courtyard. I'll meet you there with the others."

They split up and he went to Nekka, hoping he would find Azula with her but did not. "Time to go!" he shouted, throwing everything he could reach into a bag and dragging Nekka by the arm. Her legs carried her in the direction she was pulled and Sokka felt his wounds gnawing at him from the exertion. The passage behind him was long and empty, but he felt panic in his legs all the same as he ran.

Katara and Appa were waiting for them and she used her bending to load them and their supplies onto the bison's saddle. "Hang on," Sokka said, jumping back down to the temple courtyard. "I need to get Azula."

"She can take care of herself!" shouted Katara. "She's probably halfway down the mountain by now."

"Fly up with Appa and circle the courtyard!" he shouted.

"Get back up here!"

"Yip-yip!" Sokka said before Katara used her bending to take him against his will. Appa rose, carrying Katara's protests up with him. She would have him under control soon, but he hoped Appa's instincts would keep him aloft for a few minutes.

He ran down the passage on the far end of the courtyard shouting for Azula. When the gloom once again gave in to darkness he looked about for a lantern. Not finding one, he groaned and ran ahead, shouting for her.

-There's no way she's ignoring me,- he thought. -She either can't hear me, or...-

Sokka stopped. Darkness was all around him. He had gone through one room, then another, moving around dark shapes and down halls. He knew where the main passage was, but there were many twists and turns in between, and when he was still he could hear his heart pounding and the hissing of pipes.

And voices.

-888-

"Appa! Appa! Down, boy, down!" Katara was shouting, jerking Appa's reins hard to one side, which was supposed to make him land. Instead he was circling the air temple, moving higher and farther out on each revolution. "Appa, down! Sokka's in danger!"

She abandoned the reins and moved to the saddle when it became clear Appa had his own agenda. Katara could see nothing in the temple's courtyard or its rooftops besides snow. The dark recesses of the temple's many doorways were still. She cursed when Appa circled over the mountain steps, showing her a small, blue-clad figure sitting just around a bend.

Nekka had gripped the edge of the saddle and did not seem keen to move, so Katara waited for Appa to complete another rotation before she jumped from the saddle into the cold air.

She had done this maneuver over the sea many times, and from great heights, but as the wind blew back her hair and flapped her coat, she wondered if she had not just committed suicide. Pushing her doubts aside she reached out with all of her will and pulled as much snow towards her as she could, turning it into a narrow column of water.

Her body shot into the water like a dart. Suspended in water, she bent it so that it deposited her in front of Azula, who appeared both confused and impressed as she adopted a fighting stance.

"There's a monster, a shoggoth, in the temple. Sokka went in looking for you and he hasn't come out!"

Azula's face blanched and without a word she ran past Katara up the steps, using the force of her firebending to propel herself upward. Katara used her own bending skill to ferry herself across the snowy mountainside where she landed next to Azula who had stopped her flames on reaching the courtyard.

"Which way?" Azula asked.

Katara pointed to the other wing of the temple. "I didn't get a good look at the thing, but I heard it. It's like a parrot or something."

Azula gritted her teeth and rushed onward, only to come to an abrupt halt. "Go in front of me and bring as much water as you can," she said.

"I'm not turning my back on you," Katara said.

Azula scowled and resumed her charge. Katara ran behind her, pulling as much water from the snow-covered stones as she could. They ran into the dark passages which Azula lit with her fire as she shouted Sokka's name.

They were both calling for him, then suddenly something called their words back at them using both their voices.

Azula hurled a fireball down the dark hallway. It splash against something black and oozing a mere two dozen yards away. The mass receded and a putrid smell like nothing Katara had ever encountered filled the air of the corridor. She coughed and stayed behind Azula as they retreated, keeping as much water as she could rolling behind them.

They came to a juncture where Azula stopped hurling fire, for she was only hitting stone and pipes.

"How can it be here?" Azula shouted. "They hate the cold!"

"They hate fire, too," Katara said.

"Only the small ones. The larger creatures don't care if they're burned."

They ran down another passage and stopped after a dozen paces to listen. "That way!" Azula said.

Something loud was happening deep in the temple, something Katara could tell was Sokka-related. When the racket was loudest, they had reached a dome-shaped room with a large, arched doorway at the end. Before they could reach it, Sokka came falling through. His eyes were wide, his boomerang swinging madly. A sticky, black substance covered the weapon as well as his clothes and he tried to crawl forward, but was being pulled back. "Help! The blob monster's going to eat meeee!"

"Freeze him!" Azula shouted.

"What!?"

"I said freeze him! Encase him in ice. Do it, now!"

Katara's eyes flickered between Azula's billowing flame and her brother's nodding head as it was enveloped by black, shining ooze. She rolled her arm in a long arc and stepped towards him, sending dozens of gallons of water to encase him and freeze solid. "More!" Azula shouted, as she began to move. Katara quickly sent the rest of the water to cover Sokka, just as a blue cone of fire struck the dark mass above him.

Holding her arms out with her palms up, Azula continued the spray of flame as she walked forward, focusing it, making it more intense. The ice around Sokka began to melt, and Katara moved closer, swinging her hands upward and together, bending the water over him and trying to keep it solid.

Azula had reached the doorway. The odor of burning shoggoth was enough to make Katara gag, but the flames were forcing it to peel off Sokka. She could hear unintelligible gibbering noises beneath the roar of the flames, and with a pulling motion, she used her bending to draw her frozen brother towards her. He came free of the shoggoth's hold with a loud sucking noise and slid to a stop in front of her. She liquified the ice and pulled him to his feet just as Azula called for a retreat.

They left the room, and Katara stopped to bend the water into an ice wall that blocked the door. Sokka's balance was off, but not his speed and Katara kept him on course as they ran back the way they had come. As they fled, the pipes began bending outward, the seams coming loose and leaking black, living ooze.

Katara gasped while her companions let out sounds of terror upon reaching the courtyard. From the opposite wing of the temple a sea of black ooze had emerged, moving slowly over the stone. It bubbled and frothed, but at their approach several stalks rose up from the muck forming black orbs like insect eyes and tiny mouths that made strange, high-pitched cries. Azula sent a bolt of lightning into one of the stalks, only to see the electricity travel down and go through the roiling mass, invigorating it.

Letting go of Sokka, Katara whipped her arms about, pulling in all the frozen water she could and forming it into an ice sheet to cover the approaching blob which had blocked their path to the steps. Katara was about to go out onto the ice and use it as a bridge when black tendrils popped through in a dozen places, shattering the entire sheet.

From above, Appa bellowed as he descended, his loyalty winning out over animal instinct. He landed hard, and they had to jump back, nearly falling into the approaching ooze behind them. Each climbed into the bison's saddle in a mad scramble. Appa did not wait for them to be secure before rising into the air, and once he was airborne he veered west, bellowing his distaste for the air temple as the wind blew back his fur.

Automatically Katara moved towards her brother and used a rag to wipe the black, charred scum from his slack face. He took the rag from her and wiped the stuff from his skin. "I think I popped some of my stitches," he said.

Azula was looking over Appa's head, breathing deep and holding her side. "I'm fine," she said when she noticed them looking. Her finger tips were red with the blood that stained her tunic.

"Thanks," said Sokka. "You saved my butt. Both of you."

"Why were you looking for me?" The wind was tossing strands of Azula's black hair over her face, and she shook her head to clear them away. "You honestly didn't think I could take care of myself?"

"The last time those things were after us, they nearly got you because I left you alone," Sokka said, sitting sideways on Appa's neck, his attention split between the course ahead of them and the temple behind.

"That happened a few times, and I was more than capable of dealing with the situation," she said. There was a long pause, and Katara was about to ask where Azula wanted to be set down, but she never got the chance. "But...thank you. For coming to look. And I'm sorry about before."

"No, I am," Sokka said.

"You both need your wounds healed," Katara said. She went to the bag Sokka had managed to grab and rooted around in it before she found their medical supplies. Azula had turned away in a sad effort to hide her wound. Katara knelt before her and began unpacking what she needed from the bag.

"Thank you," Katara said.

Azula slid towards Katara, her hand now dripping with fresh blood as the stain on her tunic went from crimson to maroon.

To be continued...


	14. Fever Dreams

"Keep picking at it and it will fall off," Azula scolded, making Sokka's hand come away from his ear.

His head had been enjoying a bandage-free life for the past few hours. Katara's healing skills had been enough to finally heal over his wounded ear, but he had not been able to stop touching the tender flesh for any length of time. "It think it's crooked. It's crooked, isn't it?" he asked, sticking his neck out to better see his shadow on the back of Appa's furry head.

"It's only noticeable from the back. A better haircut will solve the problem," said Azula, who sat directly behind him.

"Hey, I'm one of the few people who can really rock a warrior's wolf tail. Most Water Tribe guys can't."

"I'd say none of them can, but if you insist on keeping it then perhaps a piercing would draw the eye away. Aren't you the tribe that pierces itself?"

Katara coughed loudly and Sokka looked to his left to see the outermost wall of Ba Sing Se as it separated the tightly packed stone houses from a vast expanse of farmland which was carved up by rivers and streams that gave way to thickly forested hills. The sky was an ashen gray color, which Sokka thought would make them harder to spot by people on the ground and by the dozens of airships that flew in and out of the city.

"No piercings? Perhaps I'm thinking of a different group of people," said Azula.

Sokka did not have to look to know Katara was seething. He wanted to tell her that Azula was being downright sweet compared to her usual self, but in the past three days Azula had not left him the opportunity.

-Who'd have thought Azula could be clingy?-

Katara had been clingy in her own way, and so Sokka had likewise not had the chance to speak to Azula as freely as he wished. If Azula was bitter about what he had said to her at the temple, she was not letting on. Sokka was fairly certain about why she refused to be alone from him for any real length of time, and he wished he could explain that to Katara as well.

He had gotten used to Azula's nightmares in recent weeks. Her tossing and turning and crying out were all normal sounds for him. Rarely would she wake up from a screaming fit, and even then only when she slept at night.

Since the temple, however, Azula had only slept about a night's worth, and those short stretches of slumber had all ended in a violent fit.

Each time she had come awake clawing at herself, as though something was on her, some substance she could not scrape off. In her sleep she had scratched her arms bloody, and Katara had heal her when she calmed down.

Azula would not talk about her dreams, becoming surly when pressed and if questioned harder, she would go completely silent, almost like Nekka. Soon, Sokka and his sister learned to leave the matter alone.

"How are we doing for supplies?" Sokka asked as Ba Sing Se shrank behind them.

Azula shuffled through their remaining gear, happy to have even a minor task to occupy herself with. "We're set for water of course. Food we could use more of. Luckily you managed to grab all of our medicinal needs, but we're low all the same. How much farther to this wretched-sounding swamp of yours?"

"It's not wretched," said Katara. "It's a very spiritual place."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Azula said in a low voice.

Sokka pulled his hand from his ear and shook his head to clear the fatigue he felt. "I'm not a big fan of the swamp, either, but Katara's right, it's a special place. Everything there is connected, or whatever. It's the kind of place that can help Nekka."

-And maybe you,- he thought.

"She seems better," said Azula.

Looking back, Sokka could see the Water Tribe scholar sitting against the rear of Appa's saddle. Her gaze was fixed on Katara's boot. She had not looked up while they were talking about her, but Azula was right, Nekka looked less like a hollow shell than she had days prior.

Nekka would eat and drink normally when food was put in front of her, and thank the universe she could see to her body's needs on her own, but beyond a word or two when pressed, she would not speak and her attention did not seem to be on the world around her.

As for the Necronomicon, Sokka insisted it be kept wrapped in cloth and tucked in a bag far from Nekka, who seemed to have as much interest in it as she did everything else.

"Trust me, if anyone can help us out right now, it's Huu and the Foggy Swamp Tribe. They probably haven't got the memo about us being wanted criminals, yet," Sokka said

"We can still head for Ba Sing Se, or even Omashu," said Katara, her voice like a wind chime.

Azula's laugh was reminiscent of her normal self. "Wanted poster or not, I wouldn't get far in either city," she said. "Didn't Sokka tell you about the sand worm at the library? I doubt you'd want one of those popping up in a major city."

"I don't want them popping up anywhere, near anybody," said Katara.

Sokka had opted not to tell Katara his theory on how Cthulhu's minions were tracking them, and he had been vague about the true nature of Azula's mental troubles.

"Well, not to be cruel, but we need to get help from somewhere, and this Foggy Swamp of yours sounds less filled with screaming innocents," said Azula.

Sokka wished she would let him do the arguing and he longed for a moment alone with either one of them.

The sun arced above their heads, unseen behind the endless sheet of cloud. Azula tried to make small talk with him, and occasionally Katara, who responded with one-word answers and sometimes not at all. They seemed to have silently arranged a special contest: Who could be the first to scold Sokka for touching his ear.

The clouds broke up towards dusk, but the sun was still there to pound the side of Sokka's face. "Hey, look at that," he said, pointing to the ground where an apple melon orchard had been left to grow wild. He guided Appa downward towards a house with a partially collapsed thatch roof. A nearby barn looked to be in better shape and Appa landed between the two buildings.

Azula was the first off the saddle and she charged into the house, hand alight with blue flame. She came out scowling. "No beds. I haven't slept in a real bed in years."

"We had a bed in the Northern Water Tribe," said Sokka, jumping down from the saddle with their supplies.

"A bed?" Katara was leading Nekka down Appa's flat, strong tail.

"Azula got the bed, I got the floor," he said, rubbing his ear and hoping Azula's smile would not be noticed. "Which she can make up for by straightening out the house while you and I go refill our water skins."

"I should go with you. What if you're attacked?" Azula asked.

"Katara will save me. She's used to it," he said. "See if you can get Nekka to help you, maybe it will bring her back to the real world if she remembers a little housework."

"I'm not a house servant!" Azula said.

Sokka thought it best to say nothing and go. He heard Azula speaking lowly to Nekka as he gathered empty water skins and a sack for melon apples and whatever else they found that was edible.

"Alright, time to come clean with me. What's with you and her?" Katara said when they were away from the house and deep into the shady orchard.

"You know, it's really none of your business, is it?" he said, not expecting to feel so hostile as he tossed his boomerang at a high cluster of melon apples. They fell softly into the grass.

"Fine, then. I'll go find the stream."

"No, hang on. Ugh. It's hard to explain. What happened in the temple, I'm not sure what that was about, honest, but it's true we're kind of...friends, I guess. It's weird."

Katara bent a line of water from her water skin and casually flicked it into the trees, knocking down more melon apples. The small fruits were gathered by Sokka, who loaded them into his sack. "It's weird alright," she said. "It's stupid, too. You know her, you know what she's capable of."

"Yeah, I do. I'm not saying I trust her completely, but you have to kinda admit she's not all bad."

Katara scoffed and bit into a melon apple. She made a sour face, for the fruits were a few days before full ripeness. "Not many people are all bad, so that doesn't count for much. Don't think I'm being vindictive, here. I had the chance to kill the man who took our mother, you know."

"I know," Sokka said, his voice matching the shady tempo of the orchard.

"We didn't exactly become pals, either, and he was no Azula. You know how good she is at lying and manipulating people."

Gathering up more melon apples as they walked, Sokka searched for the right words as he turned each fruit over, checking each for bruises and worms. "I can't tell you to trust her, but just trust me that she's on our side when it comes to going up against this Cthulhu thing.

"Okay, great, but the second it's not a threat anymore, she'll become one herself. She wants to be the Fire Lord and rule the world you know."

Sokka frowned and looked back towards the house as it hid behind the melon apple trees where it cast a long shadow beneath a sky turned gold by the setting sun. They had all the melon apples they could carry, so he slung the sack over his shoulder and they began walking through the thick grass and low branches towards where they had seen a stream from the air.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Sokka said.

"Go right ahead and let her fool you; you'll be the only one."

"Yeah, I will be, because she's got nobody else. She's alone, Katara, unless you count her jerk father, and I don't. And before you start, yes, she kinda brought it all on herself. Alright, not kinda, she did bring it on herself. Let's just say she deserves all of it. Now what? Does she spend the rest of her life in a cage because everyone's too afraid of her to let her have a life?"

Katara walked faster through the melon apple strewn grass. "I hate to break it to you, but it's not going to be up to you what happens to her in the end. When we get the real Zuko back he'll be the one that decides what to do with her, and he knows what she's all about better than anyone. You might not want to get too attached to her."

"Hard to believe I'm being the forgiving one here," said Sokka. The trickle of the stream could be heard now as the ground started to slope. They were still in the shade of the melon apple trees and the air was cool. "I know she hurt Aang, but..."

"She almost killed your best friend, Sokka! She's tried to kill you, Suki, me, her own brother, her uncle...I don't understand how you can defend her. I know she's pretty in a ghost story kind of way, but..."

"Okay, that was a low blow," he said, stopping. "And I'm not defending the bad stuff she did, or her attitude, but look at whose shadow she grew up in. She can change, but if we treat her like a monster, that's all she'll ever be."

Katara's arms were crossed and what maddened Sokka the most was the look of concern she wore. "I won't trust her, and I'll treat her exactly how she treats me," she said.

She started off towards the stream with him carrying the now-heavy bag over his shoulder. Unable to see the house he became anxious as he held the water skins open while Katara bent stream water into them after purging it of impurities.

The house's windows were still dark, and panic briefly flooded Sokka when there was no sign of Appa. His tracks in the grass leading to barn brought calm again, and he went with Katara into the house.

"Welcome back," said Azula, who leaned against the far wall. Nekka's white hair could be seen easily in the room where she sat on a bedroll. "I arranged to light a fire in the fireplace, but decided to consult with you before lighting it."

"Oh, my," said Katara, looking at the tidy, if dark, space.

"Something wrong?"

"No, you, uh, cleaned the place pretty well. I'm impressed."

"I don't think we need a fire," said Sokka, interrupting. "Unless someone knows a good hot melon apple recipe."

"I haven't eaten a good melon apple in years," said Azula. "They don't grow well in the Fire Nation."

"What are you talking about? There were orchards full of them near the capital," said Katara.

"It might interest you to learn that there are different breeds of melon apple. And none of them grow in an asylum!" She stepped away from the wall, keeping her arms crossed while Katara removed melon apples from the bag, separating them into groups of four on a cloth she had spread on the floor.

"I'm sensing a lot of negative energy in here," said Sokka, trying to move between them.

"It's coming from her!" both women said in unison.

"I'm going to go guard the bison. We all know if something happens, I'm the most capable," said Azula, grabbing two melon apples from the bag and stomping out the door.

Sokka sat crossed legged on the floor and commenced to eating his dinner while Katara ate hers in silence with Nekka.

The melon apples were sour, but good. They were not as filling as rice, beans, or noodles, but the change in flavor was welcome and Sokka made them disappear in a flurry of crunching.

"Hey," he said, getting his sister to turn her head slightly towards him. "When this is over, I say we get the gang back together and fly around the world. We could solve problems, have adventures..."

"Sure. Why not."

He took a large bite from his melon apple to make the crunch fill his ears and drown out the silence. He took a second large bite, then a third, crunch, crunch.

"Could you eat a little quieter?" Katara asked.

"Sure thing," he said, picking up his remaining melon apples and stepping outside. Sokka's thoughts were the last things he wanted to be left alone with, but he took a few steps towards the orchard all the same.

His head throbbed and all he could think about was worms in his melon apples. He tossed the one he was holding, having eaten it down to its core, and went to the barn where Appa had been put up. The bison sat like a shaggy hill of straw, his nose and lips wet from having been watered recently. Azula sat on Appa's middle leg, nearly disappearing into his fur as she ate.

"Hi," he said.

"Good evening," she replied.

In the dark, against her pale face the rings under her eyes were more pronounced. She ate her melon apple slowly, chewed it slowly, only opening her deep amber eyes when he moved.

Suddenly he felt tired enough to think about having a sit on Appa's rear leg, but he remained standing. "I didn't get a chance to say I was sorry about what I said at the temple," he said. She bit into her melon apple, making a loud crunch. "Well, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. You just kinda surprised me, is all."

A small shrug of her shoulders was her only response for a long moment between bites. "I surprised me as well," she said.

"So that's twice you've kissed me now."

"Yes."

"And?"

Another small shrug. "What of it?"

"It makes a guy wonder."

"Wondering if it's all some scheme to get you on my side?"

"No, I told you, I trust you're here for the right reasons."

"Glad to see it's working."

"What?"

She laughed and tossed her melon apple core into the air before burning it to cinders with a small jet of blue flame. "I've kissed you twice in three years, what's there to wonder about?"

"I'll give you the first one, but the second one..."

"Did you like it?"

"Did I look like I liked it?"

"No."

Sokka felt like someone else had control of him, like danger was all around and he was running on pure instinct, relying on the darkness beneath his mind to do his thinking for him. "Well, maybe I liked it a little bit."

He leaned next to her, letting himself sink into Appa's thick fur. He could feel her arm against his through the cloth of his tunic and his fatigue was too great for him to move a few inches away.

"Why did you come out here?" she asked.

"I thought you might be lonely. Appa's not much of a talker."

"He's better than your sister, and our scholar friend was never one for conversation. Tell me, does your sister know about your little friend, the one in your mind that talks to you?"

He was wary again, and weary of it. "Yeah, I told her."

"I have something to tell you," she said, sounding small. He waited for her to continue as the corners of the barn grew darker. "My dreams, they're getting worse. The thing I locked away in my mind, I think it's leaking out somehow. In my dreams I'm running through that awful city of his, like normal, but I can't move quickly because I'm covered in one of those blob creatures. I can feel it seeping into me as it spreads."

"That's awful," Sokka said. "Maybe if we can get help for Nekka, we can get help for you."

He expected some arrogant retort, but instead she pressed her arm against his and took his hand. His heart began to pound and his brain sped up. "I just want to be able to sleep," she said. "It's been so long, I don't know how much longer I can take this."

"I'll crash here tonight," he said. "Katara won't like it, but she'll deal."

He could see her profile, could see she was pondering some sarcastic remark, but all she did was squeeze his hand harder and close her eyes. Sokka kept his hand around hers as the shadows gathered around them and Appa began to snore.

-888-

Foggy Bottom Swamp made Sokka think of a large bowl of kelp with a garnish in the middle. The giant banyan-grove tree in the swamp's center looked as lush and green as ever, and Appa instinctively headed for it despite the fact that the last time he was here he had been pulled down by a freak tornado.

As Appa glided over the smaller banyan trees, which were still of formidable size, Sokka looked into the dark recesses of the swamp and remembered it had not always seemed like such a friendly place. Even now it held an aura of menace beneath the green canopy, which was vast an largely unbroken save for fallen trees, rivers, and pools.

The swamp's wet odor was strong as Appa dipped bellow the canopy to follow a shallow river that led to the one of the giant banyan tree's main roots which acted as a road to the great tree's massive trunk.

Sokka shielded his eyes against the sun as Appa followed the root above the smaller trees and landed not far from a man meditating by the giant tree's trunk. "There he is," said Sokka, before turning to Azula. "Be cool, please."

She frowned as Appa landed and they all disembarked. Sokka led the way up the giant root which was wide enough to have built a house upon. Katara followed behind, guiding Nekka along. "We're probably going to have to tell this guy what's up for him to help us," Sokka said to Azula.

Huu sat, asleep, with his legs crossed. A short, stocky man, his hair was cut so that it somewhat resembled the shape of the banyan tree he meditated beneath, and it bore discrete lines of silver that had not been there the last time Sokka had seen the man. Clearing his throat, Sokka stood patiently before him as the others caught up. Sokka coughed again and was answered with a snore.

"Hey!" shouted Azula, startling Huu enough to make him fall over.

"Oh, visitors!" he said, recovering. "How nice. Do I know you? Oh, I do. Sokka, how are you?" Huu stood and clasped Sokka's arm before bowing his head to Azula and the others.

"Huu, this is..."

"Suzi," Azula said, making a polite bow and taking half a step back to avoid any hand clasping.

"Ah, Katara. Good to see you again, too," said Huu.

"It's good to see you, too, Huu," said Katara as she held Nekka by the hand.

"And this is...?"

"This is Nekka," said Sokka. "She's not well. It's a long story, but we need your help."

The old man's gentle, dull eyes took in the entire scene before him and the faint smile he always wore took on a serious tilt. "I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again, and dark times would follow," he said.

For a moment Sokka did not know what to say, anything he could think of sounded stupid. "I'm hoping we'll be able to leave before we bring any bad stuff here."

"But you know you won't," said Huu.

He nodded. "I'm sorry. We really are in it deep, and this was the best place I could think of."

"I understand. We'll be just as safe in the village, for now. It's about lunch time anyway."

They all climbed onto Appa's saddle and he flew them to the river, where he decided he would partially submerge himself and go paddling upstream to the swamp village where thatched roofs, wet from a morning rain, glowed in the sunlight against the dark greens and browns of the surrounding banyan swamp.

Members of the Foggy Swamp Tribe spotted Appa and began shouting happily as they rushed to the riverbank to greet his dripping arrival. Sokka could not resist grinning as Azula was mobbed by a small gaggle of children backed by adults, all dressed in leaves and grass. The adults did little to assuage their offspring's curiosity. That Azula was from the Fire Nation had them enthralled, and it did Sokka's heart some good to hear the younger children ask her questions; why were her eyes yellow, could she really call fire out of thin air, was everything in the Fire Nation made of metal so it wouldn't burn down, and so on. They were silly questions, far from the kinds of things he wondered when he was young.

Sokka let them pester Azula just long enough before stepping close to her and their parents seemed to sense she was best left alone. Katara, meanwhile, was more than happy to greet the small ones, and Sokka took over leading Nekka along after Huu. All sensed the white-haired Water Tribe woman was not well and they kept a respectful distance.

After a few minutes the children were sent back to their chores and were told to stop being a bother by their parents, thus allowing the visitors to follow Huu through the village. Some men Sokka recognized as having helped in the Black Sun invasion offered to look after Appa, and after being assured they would not attempt to eat the bison Sokka gave them the go-ahead.

Huu led them up a small hill where there was a longhouse built from pieces of dead, moss-covered wood. "Believe it or not, privacy can be hard to come by around here," said Huu, leading them inside. It was gloomy inside, but they all found cushions of dried swamp grass to rest on. "So tell me, what's the trouble?"

Sokka told him about the Avatar and their other friends being kidnapped, about how the latter group had returned and appeared to be working against them, about the cult, and about Cthulhu. Without going into too many details, he spoke of their experience in the south pole, Azula's dreams, and his own.

"We think Cthulhu wants to eat Aang, or something like that, so he can go take down this Azathoth guy, or whatever," said Sokka. "So, to find out more we went looking for this weird book, which Nekka read, and it messed her up."

Huu took a deep breath, his brow furrowed. He had no trouble understanding what Sokka had said, and he looked at Nekka with a mixture of pity and befuddlement. "All life is connected," he said, touching his chin. "You've heard me say that before."

Sokka and Katara nodded while Azula rolled her eyes.

"But it's a little more complicated than that," Huu said, pushing his jaw to the side.

"What? I don't understand," said Katara.

"The life we're mostly familiar with is all connected, and so are the spirits we know about," he said, pausing to ponder his words. "You kids remember when I told you I'd reached enlightenment under yonder tree? Not the most humble thing I've ever said, but it's true. Anyhow, right after I sensed everything on this planet was one big, living thing I sensed something else."

All except Nekka leaned in closer, Huu's every word being muddied in the humid air of the longhouse. His swampy eyes looked over their faces as if he expected them to supply an answer to a question unasked. When they said nothing, he continued. "I'm not sure how to explain what I felt, what I still feel. It's like it's near, but far away, too. It feels separate from us somehow, but alive all the same."

"Cthulhu?" Sokka said.

Huu's shrug-nod made Sokka move closer, for the man seemed afraid his voice would carry beyond the longhouse's walls.

"Funny thing is, I'd heard about it long before I felt it. Cthulhu you called it? It's gone by many names. Cooloo, Tulu, Kuthuthu, a whole bunch of 'em. When our people first came here from the Southern Water Tribe many, many years ago, legend has it this swamp was a dark place, full of people who were spiritually cut off from the web of life, who put their hearts and souls into things from the Outside."

Huu was looking up at the ceiling which was a web of thick boughs, thatch, and spiderwebs. "You can still find their shrines in the swamp. Most of them look like piles of rocks and sticks, and we wreck 'em when we find 'em, but there's other ones that are real old and best left be."

"I knew there was something wretched about this place," said Azula.

"The swamp has its dark places," said Huu, before Sokka could scold. "I reckon the whole world does, but this is still a place of life and healing energy. It can help you, but it might not be a nice experience. Healing sometimes hurts."

"What should we do, then?" asked Katara.

"Bring your friend up to see me by the big tree tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you can stay in this house. Now if you'll excuse me, there's something I got to ponder." He stood up with a grunt as his joints popped and muttered about getting old. He shuffled to the door, but once he was there his stride returned and he walked easily. Sokka and Azula had jumped up to follow him out.

"Where are you going?" Azula demanded. "You know more than you're telling us."

Huu chuckled and waved without turning around. Down the hill was a handful of spectators doing a poor job of looking uninterested. "I'm goin' to my ponderin' spot, and yeah, I know more than I've said. I always do."

Sokka's hand on Azula's shoulder kept her from following him. "I'm gonna ask my sister what she wants to do for the night, then I say we spend the rest of the day stocking up on supplies. If you're polite, these people will share what they have. We need to be ready to fly outta here in a hurry."

"Are these people capable warriors?"

"They can handle themselves, but if comes to a fight I don't want them involved. We have to be careful about who we draw into this."

Azula looked beyond him to the western end of the swamp where the tops of the banyan trees, bright with sunlight, overlaid deep shadows. "The old man was right before, bad things follow us and there's nothing we can do about it," she said.

His teeth clenched, but he took a deep breath to calm himself, noting the people watching them were waving to Huu as he headed back to the giant banyan tree. "Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean we're not responsible for what happens."

She seemed to be mulling a retort, but settled for something less offensive. "If he's figured out the danger we pose then he's a fool for not telling us to leave, which makes me wonder what he's holding back."

"What's going on?" asked Katara, who had come out of the longhouse. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to be planning things on your own, you know."

"I thought you could hear us," said Azula, coolly.

The knives in Katara's eyes were only for Sokka, who repeated his suggestion about gathering supplies. As it happened, all four went to the village where Sokka sat beside Nekka around a fire pit the villagers kept the coals glowing in throughout the day. He was nervous about Katara and Azula acting as a pair, but Azula seemed glad to have a buffer between herself and the swamp folk. He watched them near one of the larger mud huts; Katara was speaking to an old woman while Azula's arms were folded across her chest, her eyes moving over the people in between long, wary glances at the swamp.

-This place is hgghuignjf-

"Ow!" Sokka said, reaching for his temples as his own inner voice became distorted and painful. He rubbed his head, feeling pain the back of his eyes and briefly he wondered if someone had struck him.

-What did you just do?- he thought as hard as he could, hoping the Old One in his mind would hear.

"Head hurtin' ya?" said a stocky man with a stubble beard who had come over. Sokka recognized Tho under his leaf hat and stood to clasp the man's forearm. "I got some headache powder if you want."

"Nah, it's gone already," Sokka said, returning to his seat. Tho sat next to him and began poking the smoldering fire pit with a stick. "How have things been around here?"

Tho let out a long, grumbling sigh and seemed to be vetting his words. "Same as ever, I guess. Been right dull ever since the war ended, not that I enjoyed it much, mind you. Didn't think I'd ever come back, but here I am."

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy."

"Who's yer friend? Not that white-haired princess I heard tell about?"

"Oh, no, this is Nekka. She's had it kinda rough. We came here to see about getting her some help."

"Yeah? Funny place for that sort of thing. I reckon you got other reasons, so I won't pry, I just hope...well, I done said too much. Huu will explain."

"Explain what?"

Tho coughed and tossed his stick into the fire. He stood, and chuckling to himself said something about having to feed Old Slim, who Sokka remembered was a pet catgator he had mistaken for food. A number of catgators were roaming freely around the village, and he suspected any one of them would do for Old Slim in a pinch. "Said too much. See ya," said Tho, wandering off.

The sun was on its way down and wood was added to the fire pit by villagers whose job it was to tend it throughout the day. A small group of people had gathered nearby, mostly women, and they talked in low voices while looking at Nekka. Sokka fixed them with an awkward stare until they left, then watched Nekka carefully himself. Her gray eyes were locked on the fire and her lips parted to form soundless words. Sokka supposed that was a good sign and tried to take cheer in seeing her so animated, but her white hair and blank face were impossible to ignore.

-How can reading a book cause something like that?- he thought, hoping for an answer even if it came with a headache.

Sokka's thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like the call of a giant elephant frog. It was a deep thrum, thrum, thrum sound, which he could feel in his chest. It was not a sound he had heard the last time he was at the swamp, and he soon noticed the villagers were startled by it. They had begun to whisper.

"Early...closer...where...when is...can't they..."

While he could not make out a complete sentence, it seemed the sound was not a new occurrence in the swamp. The thrums formed a steady beat coming from every direction.

-Drums. No big deal. Must be another village.-

He tried to catch the eye of a villager to ask about the noise, but everyone was returning to their homes, including the people who had been feeding the fire pit with sticks. Even Nekka had been unsettled by the beat, her attention now fixed downriver. Sokka's hand on his boomerang steadied his nerves, and he was glad to hear Azula's voice coming up behind him.

"What is that awful drumming all about?" she asked, stopping directly behind him so he had to get up to speak to her.

"I don't know, but they're freaking everybody out," he said.

"I demanded answers from no less than three of them and they had the audacity to ignore me," she said.

"Yeah, I couldn't get anything out them either," said Sokka. "Maybe this has something to do with what Huu wanted to tell us."

"He had best tell us right now. Let's go fetch him."

"These people don't seem panicked, so we should be just fine," said Katara, who had been hanging back. "I'm going to take Nekka back to the longhouse. The supplies we gathered are tied to Appa's saddle."

She took Nekka's hand and led her away without saying another word, leaving Sokka in a quandary.

"I'll think I'll guard the bison again. You're coming with me, let's go," said Azula, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him through the village to the nearby grove where Appa had been left to rest. The drums had the big animal on edge and he grunted his relief on seeing Sokka, who spoke soothing words while petting his nose.

Azula climbed into Appa's saddle and with a look towards the village Sokka joined her. Azula had found her usual sleeping spot at the back while Sokka sat off to the side. The perpetual twilight of the swamp was deepening. Shadows were becoming longer and reaching from beneath roots and tussocks. The pools of water had gone from reflective to black, and the steady pounding of drums was now underlain by a constant screen of insects.

"Unbelievable. Does this place ever shut up?" Azula asked.

"Let's hope not. When everything goes quiet, that means we're in trouble."

Azula chuckled, closing her eyes and crossing her legs. She looked worn out, her only rest having come a few days prior at the melon apple orchard. "I can't tell if you're more frightened of those drums or your sister," she said.

"I haven't had a chance to really clear the air with her yet, you know?"

"Clear it of what? Is she angry over you not treating me like a prisoner?"

The whine of a million insects and the beat of the drums made thinking hard, but he found if he tried to listen to all of it at once it became a great blur of noise and had a soothing effect. "I wouldn't put it exactly like that," he said.

"She still hates me, even after I risked my neck for you at the temple. She probably thinks I have some ulterior motive," said Azula.

"Yeah, she does."

"Do you think I'm plotting something?"

He made a disgusted sound. "You know what, let's not spoil it. It was a nice thing you did at the temple, and I'm grateful."

They were silent for a while. Azula closed her eyes, but her body was tense and she was far from sleep. Sokka sat in a meditating position and let the sounds of the swamp soothe him, even the ominous drums. He might have fallen asleep had Azula not kept moving. "Will you be sleeping here, then?" she asked.

"I guess. That's why you dragged me here, isn't it?"

Her lips curled, then pressed into a line. "Yes," she said, almost inaudibly. "The only real sleep I've had in weeks was that night in the barn."

"Because of me?"

"It wasn't this smelly, snoring bison," she said.

"Yeah, alright, I guess I'll stay the night here. I think Katara was expecting I would."

There was another long stretch of silence as the night gathered around them. Appa had gotten used to the drums and the insects, and settled down, his breathing adding to the cacophony around them. The drums had quickened, or so Sokka thought, and he listened to them while he sat, letting them pull him into a meditative state where he could think. He tried to contact the Old One, but it was silent.

True night had taken over and Azula was still moving around in the dark. He listened to her until she was still, then when he heard her breathing change he laid down to do some sleeping of his own. He dreamed of a black violin then came awake when Azula shrieked.

Sokka's blood was rushing, flushing the drowsiness from his head, but he soon calmed when he realized it had been one of her night terrors. She was breathing hard. "Sokka," she whispered.

"Yeah."

"Come here."

He crawled over to her, and she guided him down so his head lay on the cushy part of the saddle.

"Uh..."

"Shut up," she said, laying her head into his shoulder. "Be quiet and let me sleep."

-888-

While he had gone to sleep with the pounding drums and the whine of insects in his ears, he dreamed of violin music and flapping wings. The music was alien to him and just short of being unpleasant in its weirdness, but the wings were almost intolerable. In truth, they made no sound, they only gave him the impression of flapping as they touched him. He was being borne off somewhere though long, twilight distances. The ride was rough, like falling, and he was being shaken. Azula was hissing at him.

His eyes had adjusted to the night, which was pin-pricked by the tiny green lights of lantern bugs. "What?" he groaned, rolling away from the warm body beside him.

She slapped him hard on the chest. "I'll never be able to sleep with those accursed drums pounding all night," she whispered.

"It's probably quieter up at the longhouse," he said, brushing his face where the dream wings had tickled him.

"I'd prefer to avoid your sister for a few more hours."

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He could see her silhouette against the swamp, which was not only noisy but teemed with the motion of nocturnal beings large and small. He could hear the pounding drums beneath the natural swamp racket and had to admit the sound somehow asserted itself above all the others.

Azula stood and walked to the end of Appa's saddle. The bison was sleeping lightly, his breaths audible beneath the drums, buzzes, whines, and chirps from the swamp. "I want to know who's beating on those things," Azula said.

"We'll ask Huu in the morning. I'm pretty sure it's the other thing he wanted to tell us."

"He knew we'd hear them, so why was he silent on the subject? Come with me, I'm going to do a little reconnaissance."

She hopped off Appa's saddle and over the marshy ground before he could say anything. Wide awake now, he decided to humor her and jumped off the saddle, making a wet squelch on his landing. "You know, I've got some experience with bad ideas, and trust me, this is one of them."

Her laugh was that of a girl sneaking out at night. "You remind me of Zuzu when we young, always whining. Don't be a dummy and just follow me," she said.

Azula leaped from soggy tussock to soggy tussock, from wet rock, to rotten log, and gracefully moved across a bank of moss-covered roots. Sokka moved slower, his footing coming from years of moving over ice, but he was out of practice and his feet were soon wet. Azula clucked her tongue when he caught up, and she led him to the edge of the village near the river. There was a long, bark canoe tied to a tree and after some searching they found a pole to propel it. "We shouldn't go far," he said.

"Afraid your sister will be mad?"

"No," he said, thinking of what Katara would say, or do, if some disaster befell them.

"Liar. You should stand up to her more."

"We get along just fine, thanks," he said, a familiar weariness coming over him as he pushed the pole against the muddy river bottom.

"I've noticed," Azula said.

He stifled his laugh. "No offense, but you're not the greatest person to be taking advice from when it comes to family stuff."

She huffed, summoning a tiny flame in her palm only to snuff it out. "On the contrary, I know quite a bit about the subject."

-This is folly. Turn back,- Sokka heard himself think. The voice was his own, but it came streaking from out of his mind with enough force to startle him. He could see Azula's bemused expression in the darkness. The sky was clear, and the faint light from the stars reflecting from the water was the swamp's only illumination.

"Hearing voices?" she asked. "What are they saying?"

"Nothing I don't already know. That seems to be all it can tell me when I'm awake, and I forget whatever happens when I'm asleep."

"Some people need to be told what they already know," she said, leaning back in the canoe and letting her hand flutter over the edge. She was careful not to lower it too far, less some swimming thing with teeth take a bite. "You're lucky. My little mind worm isn't so polite."

"Really? What does it say?"

"I'd rather not tell," she said. "Forget it, it's just an annoyance."

"I think it's more than that," he said. "You should go with Nekka to see Huu tomorrow. If anyone can help you, he can."

"Is that supposed to put my mind at ease?" she asked.

Sokka shook his head and paddled the canoe, steering clear of logs, and floating clusters of root and dirt which appeared as deep, black blobs on the water.

The canoe moved in silence, but faster, while the sounds of the swamp and the drums seemed to emanate from behind every tree and curtain of vines. Sokka yelped when something slapped the water with its tail and disappeared. There was a bend up ahead and Sokka vowed to turn the canoe around once they reached it.

He soon realized they had gone quite far from the village. Azula turned and faced the swamp, and for some reason Sokka could not explain he continued to steer the boat as they were drawn in deeper.

Sokka's anxiety about how far they were from the village steadily rose, but he said nothing. Suddenly, Azula pointed at a bright, orange light behind vine-draped banyan trees.

It was a fire, a huge one. It burned in the woods a few hundred yards from the river, rising up around a tower of sticks. Flames tore angrily at the night sky, while on the ground strange shapes pranced in the light.

Sokka leaned hard to make the pole touch bottom and stopped the canoe. Beyond the fire was a deep, black thicket. The insects had all but been drowned out by the drums, which he could feel in his chest. Azula waved for him to bring the canoe to the bank, but he shook his head. "Are you crazy? I know you like fire, but come on."

Her amber eyes flashed in the firelight, and he pushed the canoe to the shore where she jumped out and dragged the front end onto the riverbank. "Azula! Azula, this is nuts!"

She pressed her finger to her lips and keeping low to the ground moved closer to the violently burning fire, using the moss and vine covered trees for cover. Sokka stuck close to her, keeping his footsteps in hers so he did not squelch or snap a twig. They could see the dancing shapes now. Their backs were black against the fire, but when the light caught them their skin was sallow and corpse-like. Not all were entirely human, and while their numbers were hard to tally it was more than Sokka wanted to see.

"Okay, reconnaissance mission complete, let's go back now," he said, tugging on her tunic. "Azula, I just had my stitches out from the last fight we got into, I'd like to have a few more days of being wound-free, okay?"

"If you don't want more wounds, then shut up," she whispered back.

They were close enough to feel the heat from the fire, and the grotesquerie of the revelers was laid bare. They did not posses the Outer-Maw Look, but Sokka wished they had. Each one bore some sort of deformity, be it a club foot, mottled skin, and in some cases extra, deformed limbs. Sokka saw they were a mix of men, women, and children. Animals, too, but the distinction was hard to draw. While their bodies were sickening to behold, what truly unnerved him and filled Azula with a bizarre anger was their demeanor. They danced about the raging flames as if it were joy incarnate, some prancing so close their skin blistered.

A few were making a game of seeing how close they could be to the flames and for how long. Most jumped back, smoldering, while they were congratulated by their less daring fellows, but a rare number decided to jump, or collapse, and be swallowed by the inferno.

It was as hard to watch as it was to look away, but he was able to tear his attention from the cavalcade of dancing horrors long enough to take in their surroundings. The grove was adorned with hundreds of hanging bundles. He could see the glint of white bones and strips of seared flesh that had been bound up into the strange little fetishes.

There was movement in the darkness where the fire's light did not touch, and Sokka could see there were even more revelers in the shadows. Some were quite close to them, and he was glad they had been cautious.

A burning branch broke, sending others down in a storm of sparks and coals. A cheer rose up from the group which sounded to Sokka almost mournful and angry, but his attention was on what the shifting wood had revealed.

The fuel for the bonfire had been piled around a massive, black stone. Had Sokka not seen Cthulhu's image burned into a wall once before, he might not have recognized its likeness carved into obsidian.

He was about to say something in her ear when she stood "Run back to the boat," she said.

She shook his hand off her arm as she moved into the firelight. Everything was happening fast, the distances between them and the bonfire were somehow shorter. Azula's arms moved in wide arcs, her fingertips sparked, and with a thrust of her arm she sent the largest bolt of lightning he had seen her produce streaking towards the fire-covered obsidian statue.

He clamped his hands over his ears in time to avoid them being hurt by the explosion which sent hot shards of stone and burning logs into the gathering of subhumans who howled in shock before twisting in agony.

Clouds of blue fire erupted from her arms and scorched the swamp before her, igniting the forms that had languished in the shadows. She was screaming as she produced waves of blue fire, then followed them with bolts of lightning that arced between pale bodies when it did not destroy them outright.

Sokka cowered behind her, his boomerang in hand, and swept the legs out from under a charging figure. Man, woman, child, or animal he did not know, but Azula burned it to ash as soon as she noticed he had felled it. She wore a look of manic glee on her face that frightened him and made him call out to her.

Many of the dancers fled into the swamp, their terror overpowering their rage. Azula did not seem to want any survivors, however, and she ran after them, sending lightning bolts into the thicket where they exploded more trees and set fires.

Sokka followed, striking down things that came at her flanks and back with relative ease, as they seemed to only have eyes and hate for her and the destruction she was causing. "Die! Die, you scum!" she shrieked. "How dare you! How dare you!"

They were in the thick, vine laden part of the swamp beyond the Cthulhu shrine, and it was here Sokka finally mustered the courage to grab her around the waist. "Azula! Stop! They're gone, we got them!"

This was not entirely true, but he thought the truth would only encourage her to stay and fight. While the dancers had fled into the darkness of the swamp, some instinct told him it was not quite the route it appeared to be. He could sense them gathering, waiting for him and Azula to go beyond the light and be in amongst the thick trees and vines where her devastating bending attacks would be less effective.

"Let me go, coward! They all have to die!"

"Stop it! What's gotten into you?"

She wrestled away from his grip, and for a moment looked about to turn her anger on him directly, but it was like she had been shaken out of a trance. "Run, fool, back to the boat," she said, dashing past him but letting him catch up.

As they ran, sticks and stones began to fly past them, then small darts. Sokka felt a stone bounce off his shoulder blade, laying the roots for a formidable bruise later on provided a second stone did not find the back of his skull.

Each of them had been hit by something by the time they reached the boat, and behind them were two freshly burned corpses, creatures that had tried to come around to flank them or cut off their escape.

Azula jumped into the canoe first and Sokka soaked himself to his waist pushing off. She pulled him in hard enough to almost tip the canoe, but some quick pole work on his part saved them and he was pushing off as hard as he could, sending them over the water towards the village as the swamp became full of strange shrieks and undulating war cries.

"We gotta ditch this canoe and hide! A third-rate waterbender on a log could catch us at this speed!" he shouted.

"Enough of your nonsense, this water is filthy. Hang on and prepare to steer," she said, moving to the back of the canoe and getting on her knees. She held both arms out and took in a deep breath. Twin jets of fire shot from her palms, lighting the swamp around them in blue. The canoe lurched forward and sped upriver. Sokka did not so much steer as he rammed the pole into obstacles, keeping them from colliding with the logs and floating tussocks they had glided gently past on their way down.

After what felt like several miles Azula cut the flames and they let the momentum carry them a ways into calmer water, where Sokka began to furiously propel them with the pole.

Azula was exhausted, but elated. Her sharp laughter joined the chorus of bugs and night birds, and as Sokka's arms felt like wet sand, he pulled the pole in and slumped on his back in the bottom of the canoe.

"Reconnaissance mission, huh?" he said as his breath returned to him.

"When you see a chance to deal a crippling blow, you take it," she said, moving towards his legs. He looked up; she was smiling.

"What were those things? They didn't look like cult people," he said.

"Who cares? We hurt them, didn't we? We showed them we're not weak fools who can only fight on the run."

He let out a deep breath as the back of his head touched the canoe. His mind reeled about for some point to make, something to second guess her with. Finally, it surrendered. "Yeah, it felt pretty good to hit back, didn't it?"

She was grinning in the dark and he could not help but feel her excitement. They had come a long way over the river, but they were still far from the village. "It did. They've had us on the run for so long, they've been tormenting me this entire time, they needed to suffer. You did well. I would have been attacked from behind had you not run interference."

Azula's hand was on his leg, making his body go rigid. "Yep," he said.

"You wanted to know before what the shoggoth in my mind says to me," she said. "I can tell you, can't I? You won't be afraid of me?"

Propping himself up on his elbows, he saw her pale face was covered in a sheen of sweat. "No, you can tell me," he said.

"It wants me to burn things. It likes my bending, it's fascinated with it for some reason. It doesn't care what gets burned, so long as it's something. It...took over for a bit, back there. Not completely, but enough to make my bending stronger, I think."

"Something tells me that's not a good thing," Sokka said.

She shook her head and crawled closer to him. He braced himself, but did not recoil. "It's eating me alive, Sokka," she said. "I've been keeping it in check, but something's happened and it's loose in me...you're the only thing that holds it back."

Sokka's lips parted, but they hung there stupidly with nothing to say. She kissed him, and rather than recoil his body froze, all but his lips which worked to envelop hers. Azula pulled back, her amber eyes wide.

-Stop. Stop it, you idiot, this is a bad, bad move,- he thought, as her lips met his again and his elbows shifted so his arms could go around her.

The smell of her skin and hair, and the weight of her body were exactly as he remembered them from the south pole when he had needed her heat to keep him alive in the deadly cold. Ice and snow had been replaced by muggy air and a wooden canoe bottom, but they ignored the discomfort and pressed themselves close, using their hands to further define each others forms in the darkness.

Each was careful to avoid the others cuts and bruises, but they soon stopped caring. Sokka knew he would have some new marks in the morning in the shape of teeth, and while most of them would be where his clothes covered, Azula did things to his neck that made him shiver and gasp.

Knowing it was too late to turn back, he drove himself forward. She met him with equal force, and he felt all the anxiety and fear he had been holding lifted from him, leaving a great hollow in his mind which she filled with sweat, her long hair on his bare chest, and finally her fingernails digging deep into his back.

When it was over he did not move, both out of fatigue and the fear of the disgust and regret he was sure to feel once outside the heat of her embrace. The canoe floated quietly along in the direction of the village, and he planned to remain still, listening to her breathe, until the boat ran ashore.

To be continued...


	15. The Crawling Chaos

It was late in the morning when Sokka woke to a quieter swamp. The living blackness of the night was replaced with a soft gloom that made him want to close his eyes and sleep for several more hours. He had dreamed of violins and of black shapes, but the memories evaporated as he stretched and groaned.

He was alone on Appa's saddle. Azula's absence made him fully alert, but he soon relaxed; she was likely just in the village. He put his tunic on gently, for the bruise on his shoulder blade was tender and the scratches on his back burned where the cloth touched them. There were light wounds on his neck, and he felt a flutter of panic at their touch.

Perhaps a new necklace would cover them, or...no, he should just blame it all on the fire dancers, better to admit that he went into the middle of the swamp at night without telling anyone and attacked a large group of subhumans rather than tell the truth. He touched his neck again. There would be no hiding the marks. He looked over Appa's saddle for blood, remembering vividly how they had made their mistake a second time, but found nothing.

Sokka jumped from Appa's saddle and sought the bison's wide, sleepy face. "Appa, I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

Appa grunted and licked him. "Don't lick me, you don't know where I've been, what I've done."

Appa rose on his six legs and moved away to chew on some bushes, leaving Sokka to turn in circles, wondering how long Azula had been up. He tied and retied his wolf tail, wondering if his cold weather coat with its high collar would look out of place in the muggy swamp.

"Okay, okay, don't panic. Maybe she told Katara and maybe she didn't. These scratches...bugs. It's itchy out here. It's plausible! Oh, man."

-This is a distraction. You have greater concerns.-

"Oh, gee, thanks, Mr. Old One. Or should I call you, Obvious One! Keep quiet if you're not going to be helpful," he muttered, getting a puzzled look from Appa before the bison went back to his leafy breakfast.

The Old One was right, and so he turned his mind to what else had happened in the swamp. How many had escaped the surprise attack? Would they retaliate? He let out a long groan, but stifled it when he remembered Huu had wanted to tell them something. -Were they going to ask for our help with that cult?- he wondered.

He bid Appa goodbye and went to the village where he hoped to find Azula sitting quietly by the big fire pit, but instead he found his sister and Nekka, the latter staring into the coals as if they were something else. Katara stared, too, but there was a lost look about her he wished he had not seen.

"Good morning," he said, flashing a big smile. Katara did not glower at him, but neither did her face brighten. He tried not let his discomfort show, but his cheery demeanor sounded false even to him. Sitting by the fire he grabbed a grilled hornet roach and, after a quick clearing of the mind, forgot what it was and ate of the sweet, lobster-like meat. "You guys already eat?"

"We're all set, thanks," Katara said. "I was waiting for you to show up so we could take Nekka to see Huu."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, eating faster. "Huu's a good guy. Nice level head, seems like he knows what's up."

"Unlike some other people I could name. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"Who, Azula? I thought she'd be here."

He buried his mouth into the bug, hoping his poor manners would deflect scrutiny from his neck, which felt hotter and large somehow, like it were the biggest part of his body.

"She was here alright. She made the fire too hot for anyone to use, said rude things about these people and their food, then went off somewhere. I was thinking about making a quick apology tour before we left, but then I remembered that's your job."

"You know, to be fair, even we didn't always have the easiest time getting along with people when we went to new places, and we weren't raised in a palace, and we didn't spend three years in an asylum. So how about cutting her a little slack?" he said, wiping bug juice from his chin.

Her eyes darkened, but she seemed more tired than angry. "I'm cutting her slack by letting her walk around. And pull your tunic up as high as you want, I'm not blind or stupid," she said.

"No, you're not stupid," he said, tossing the hornet roach carapace into the fire, which did seem a little hotter than normal.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He stood and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "It's a compliment. You're not stupid. Never have been, never will be. Come on, let's take Nekka to Huu so maybe she can tell us something about that stupid old book.

"And maybe heal her at the same time," Katara said, getting up and taking Nekka under arms with just enough pressure to signal the girl to rise.

"Well, yeah. Kinda goes without saying."

Nekka's movements were more fluid than they had been, but the look on her face was that of someone paying attention to something that was nowhere in sight or earshot.

Sokka went several paces ahead of them, enough so Katara would have to raise her voice if she wanted to be heard. This kept her silent until they were clear of the village, and by then Katara had ceased to boil, yet Sokka dared not speak or look in her direction.

They passed into the shade of the banyan-grove and found the giant root leading up to the parent tree. Once clear of the canopy, they were warmed by the sun's light which was low enough in the sky to not be blocked by the giant banyan. Huu sat where he had before, close to the great tree's trunk.

"Oh, no..." Sokka said upon seeing two scorch marks along the giant root. Huu was siting with his eyes closed, cross legged on mossy stump. The smell of burnt hair was faint in the air, and Sokka saw where Huu's odd haircut was lopsided and singed.

"What happened!?" Katara shouted, pushing past Sokka. As she looked over Huu's still form, the man's eyes peeled open and he smirked.

"Oh, not much. Somebody got a little hot under her collar, is all."

"What did you say to her?" asked Sokka.

"What did he say!? What does it matter? She's crazy!"

"Now, now, it's alright. Firebenders are known to have a bit of a temper. The ones who are good at it, anyway. We got to talkin', and I showed her a little bit of truth n' she got upset. It's like I said before, healing sometimes hurts."

"You don't seem injured, aside from your hair. Which way did she go?" asked Katara.

"Don't worry about her," said Huu. "She told me what she did last night, so I reckon she doesn't have much to fear from the swamp. Physically at least. I guess you know what I was meaning to tell you yesterday?"

Katara stepped back, confused. Sokka licked his lips and recounted his and Azula's nocturnal adventure. Most of it, at least. The look of murder on his sister's face made his battered body quiver in anticipation of a beating.

"Oh, that's just so..." Katara said, her bending water twisting its way like a snake out of the pouch she kept it in. "You know, I think the one who's being cut too much slack is you, Sokka."

The water whip cracked above his head and he shrieked. "Huu! Huu, help!"

Katara hesitated slightly, then Huu said, "It's like I say, sometimes healing hurts."

"Huuuuu!"

-888-

Huu sat still beneath the giant banyan tree, enjoying the novelty of the total silence that occurred briefly between the end of night and beginning of morning when the singing of the night creatures stopped and calls and chirps of diurnal ones had yet to start.

The early silence of the drums had not escaped his notice, and he wished he had told the young ones about them sooner. The swamp told him all was well, for now, and so he waited patiently for them to come to him while he thought about the Old People and the stories his great grandfather had told about their drums and their dances, and the stone totems that dotted the swamp like the eggs of a tapeworm that sometimes found their way into the brain of a swamp hog.

He had once supposed there was a place in the world for things like tapeworms, but since his village had become smaller just as the drums had started up again, he had to wonder. Enlightened or not, he was a man of the Foggy Bottom Swamp Tribe.

The silence was broken by scuffling footsteps; Huu sensed a burning, sick presence approaching. It was the Fire Nation girl, the one he was fairly certain was Princess Azula, but if she preferred to be called Suzi then he would call her that.

She looked worn out, but uninjured when she stopped a hostile distance away from him and crossed her arms. "You there, I demand an explanation for those infernal things in the woods!"

Huu chuckled and squinted. "I was gonna tell you all in a few hours. Maybe we should wait until everyone's gathered 'round, that way I won't have to tell it twice."

"You'll tell it as many times as necessary," she said, coming closer, nearly staggering. "I blasted apart their awful shrine and killed more than half of those monsters. How long have they been there and how long have you allowed them to carry on like that?"

Something was puzzling to him about the events she described, but it was not important now. "We're peaceful folk and they hadn't been any trouble to us for a long, long time."

"But they're trouble now, aren't they? Or at least they were until I dealt with them. I suppose you were planning on having us take care of them as payment for your help with the Water Tribe girl?"

He scratched the back of his neck where a mosquito had bitten him. Her anger and conceit defined her, but it hid her cunning and perceptiveness. "Well, I wasn't going to say it like that, but yeah I was gonna ask if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you to give us a hand with those folks. But it looks like you decided to kick things off early, so I guess it's a deal."

"Was that all of them? Will there be a counter attack?"

"Oh, I reckon so. They're a vengeful folk and I doubt you changed that. We'd a helped you anyway, you know."

"We'll never know, will we? I don't know why you bothered being coy about it, unless that was part of the sell. Were you hoping they would attack us first, so you wouldn't have to lay out your little bargain?

Huu stood, letting the blood flow freely though his legs as his joints creaked. -Gonna be a sore day,- he thought. "Why are you so angry?" he asked, genuinely curious, for rarely had he ever seen someone so powerful in so much pain.

"I'm annoyed that I've been kept in the dark by a third-rate swamp guru who owes me information. It seems to be a pattern with people we've met, despite everyone being doomed if we fail."

"Seems there's not much more to tell you than you already know," he said, letting his bare feet sink into the moss growing on the tree root. He let his mind relax and felt the tree's energy flowing into him, taking in other energies along with it. "Maybe you're curious about how the swamp heals people?"

"No, just so long as I see results in the girl we brought."

"She's been touched by the Outside, which is bad. It's gonna take a lot of effort for me to focus the swamp's energy to help her. You, on the other hand, won't need so much to set you on a better path."

"I don't need your help," she said, sliding one leg behind her, settling into a defensive stance. "I've got some scrapes and I'm tired, but otherwise I'm fine."

Huu took a deep breath, becoming a conduit for the energies around him that filled not only the tree root, but the moss that grew on it and the hundreds of tiny creatures that called it all home. "No, you're not."

She snarled; the thing inside her had come forward, sensing the danger it was in. "Leave me alone, I'm warning you," she said.

Huu let his breath out slowly, and more energy came flowing to him not only from his feet, but the air around him, telling him things about the girl. In an instant, he understood.

"The anger and resentment you think is keeping you safe is letting that thing inside you grow. That boy, Sokka, has kept it from overtaking you, but your feelings for him are like a bandage; they'll soak up blood and pus until they can't no more, then they'll become part of the poison."

She scowled and took a step back as though she had something foul poured on her. "How...enough of this. You don't know me, you don't know what I have to deal with!"

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea," Huu said. "You're worse off than you know. That monster found fertile ground in you, young lady. You need help."

Huu blinked and the swamp showed him the truth of his words. The girl's body was half covered in black ooze, as though she had fallen in a puddle of tar and struggled to get out. She could not see it, yet, and it would doubtless take another form when she did, but he could see she now felt something was wrong from how she twitched.

"Fertile ground? You dare insult me, you, you swamp peasant! I've kept it under control well enough, it doesn't tell me what to do!"

He briefly thought it was too late for her, that the monster had gnawed at her too deep, but the heat of her anger was hers alone. It made him smile.

"Oh, well, sorry about that. I guess you n' that critter are so much alike it's hard to tell you two apart."

Her howl of rage was accompanied by twin bolts of blue fire, which he was almost not fast enough to dodge. The fire struck the tree root, and it retaliated.

She was paralyzed for a moment, like a chamber pot had been emptied on her unexpectedly. After a moment of disbelief her limbs outstretched in a desire to not touch themselves. Her hands came alight with blue flames, and before she could immolate herself, Huu jerked his head sideways and spout of water shot up from the swamp below and knocked the girl off the root. He heard her land with a splash, and rather than run to the edge of the root, he closed his eyes. The swamp bore her no ill will, its attack having been an act of kindness rather than a thing of spite.

From where he was, he could see her swimming to dryer ground. Casting a glance behind her, she fled into the dense swamp as though being chased. "You'll go easy on her, I hope," Huu said, sitting down and patting the tree.

-888-

A blue fire ball struck a stump, making it explode into burning pieces of charcoal. Flames licked their way up a mossy tree truck before dying down and smoldering in the wet greenery. A lighting bolt struck a pool of water, vaporizing it instantly. When Azula's hands finally stopped spreading destruction they pressed into her eyes in an effort to hold back the tears. Had she not done enough crying already?

"I'll show him a weak mind," she growled, firing a bolt of lighting into a tree and obliterating it. "A weak mind. How dare he!" Another bolt, another dead tree.

-That's not what he said at all, dear. Try and remember.-

"Shut up!" Azula screamed, turning towards her mother's voice and seeing no one. She hugged herself and sunk to her knees, muttering, "No, no, no" until the word became meaningless gibber.

-Azula, my love, please remember what that man really said to you.-

Her hands clutched her head as though it were a festering wound. "Nonononono go away, go away, goawaygoaway."

"If you want me to, I will. But be careful."

This time she pounded her temples until her head felt like it would split. When the pain was too much, she sat against a tree and tried to lose consciousness. Instead, she thought of Sokka, his weight pressing against her, his mouth against hers. Slowly she opened her eyes and felt like she was in control of herself one more even though she trembled.

"All this running around is nonsense," she said to herself. "I should go back to the Fire Nation and defeat my brother, take over, and see that an end gets put to all of this immediately!"

"Yeeeessssss!" said something from the branches directly above her. She gasped and jumped away, turning in midair to face what had spoken.

Black ooze covered the tree branches, dripping down to form eye-stalks and mouths. "A wise wise course of of action. Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! Go go kill grind tear tear BURN! mguawfuh!"

She screamed and threw fire into the tree, setting the leaves and branches ablaze. Azula sobbed and pulled at her hair, unable to muster the energy to throw more fire.

-It isn't real, Azula. It's just a puddle of thoughts.-

"You're not real!" Azula shrieked, her voice cracking and becoming hoarse. "You left me! You abandoned me!" A hand fell on her shoulder and she broke, sinking to her knees and burying her face in her hands. How awful she must have looked, how pathetic she sounded, she no longer cared.

The hand squeezed her tighter. She could smell lilies; those had been her mother's favorite. Azula peeled her face from her hands and looked up to see how broken her mind had become. There was her mother, standing above her in an elegant, simple red tunic untouched by the swamp.

"I'm not what you think. We're all connected, my love. This place can remind us of that," said Ursa.

"S-shut up. I'm imaging you because that monster is making me sick."

The phantom hand of her mother stroked her shoulder and touched her wet cheek. "The swamp shows people visions of ones they've loved."

"I hate you," said Azula, shuddering. "I hate everybody, and they hate me."

"I love you. Zuko loves you, and so does someone else. Trust him. All this anger and hate is what's making you sick, it's not helping you anymore. It never was."

Azula closed her eyes to wipe tears away, and saw her mother was gone. The tree was charred black from the fire, but it no longer dripped and gibbered. She stood and walked around, looking for footprints besides her own and smelling the air for the telltale odor of burnt shoggoth.

She composed herself in silence, no longer feeling the need to sob or shake. A bird chirped somewhere in the banyan grove and was answered by another. Hallucinations were not new to her, especially ones of her mother. Something had felt different about this one, however. She touched her shoulder where her mother's hand had been and remembered the smell of flowers.

"She wasn't real, but neither was she a figment of my imagination," Azula whispered, looking again to the burnt tree where the shoggoth had oozed from.

What had that annoying old pile of swamp moss actually said to her? A lot of love and peace nonsense, but there had been something else, something perhaps he had not intended as his true lesson. "He said I was fertile ground for that monster, that I had a lot in common with it," she said, as if the birds would listen.

She remembered how it had clung to her skin, sunk its black roots into her body as it replaced every fiber of her being with its own. Looking at her hands, she saw nothing, and clenched them into fists. Her skin felt like it was crawling, but she was too tired to become angry.

Her thoughts turned to Sokka and what they had done the night before. He would probably want to talk about it and be irritating which had been why she had left before he awoke, but now she regretted that move immensely.

Wiping her eyes again and brushing some of the mud off her shins, she followed her trail back through the swamp, feeling lighter but knowing she and the oozing mass inside her still had a reckoning ahead of them.

One of them was eager for it.

-888-

"Katara...my lips...I think they're blue," Sokka said, puckering his mouth in an effort to confirm this with his eyes. "Yep, blue. Come on, let me out..."

His body was encased in stinking ice that Katara had formed from the swamp water bellow the banyan tree root. Sokka at first thought he had gotten off light, but as the hours wore on he grew more concerned.

Katara was looking out over the swamp as the sunlight gave the green canopy a golden hue. Nekka was on the other side of the tree with Huu where they would have peace and quiet, far from Sokka's wails and pleas. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I keep running off without you, but...I don't want to end up like her."

Katara spun rapidly, her eyes flashing. "You hadn't even met that girl when you ran off with Azula," she said. "Every lie you tell buys you more time in the ice."

"Real mature!" he shouted. "You're just mad I don't hate Azula like everyone else does. What would Aang say about this!?"

That was a mistake. Katara came over to him and with intricate finger-work bent a spike of ice that directed a drop of smelly water onto his forehead every other second.

"I don't know what Aang would say. He's been kidnapped by monsters and he's going to stay that way while you go gallivanting around with your new, awful girlfriend."

Rage filled him and he thought he could break free, but his icy prison was too strong. "That's...! I've been...! And you know it, too!"

She waved her hand and the dripping stopped. He felt the ice around him heat up, but not enough for it to become liquid right away.

"Alright, Sokka, I'll give you this much, I'm not a fan of Azula. I think you've made the biggest mistake of your entire life, and if she were a normal girl I'd let you live and learn, but she's not going to just break your heart she's going to hurt you badly, and everyone else."

He wiggled, feeling that he had more space to move. "Yeah, whatever. I'm not asking anyone else to trust her, so the risk is on me. Also, I'm not some idiot she can work like a puppet, you know."

Katara shook her head slowly. "Your lips are a little blue, and it looks your brain is slowing down, so I'll let you go," she said. "But since doing whatever we feel like is how we operate now, I've got some plans of my own."

The ice turned to water all at once and Sokka was left shivering on the wet tree root. He got up, slipped, then crawled to a sunny spot. "What plans?"

"I'm going back to the Fire Nation," she said.

"What!? No! Katara, that's way too dangerous. Even if we went as a group, we don't know..."

"Exactly, we don't know! We have no idea what's going on over there. Let's say Nekka does get better, let's say she does remember something useful from the book, then what? Unless it's some magic chant that's going to put everything back the way it was, we've probably got some more work to do."

"We've got until the spring equinox to do it, so there's no reason to rush," Sokka said. "I know I've been a pain and that Azula's hard to deal with, but this isn't the answer."

"Do you hear yourself? They have Aang! Whatever they're doing with him, it needs to stop now! You've really lost it, Sokka."

He growled in frustration, but his mind had latched onto something, some puzzle piece with an odd edge to it. Katara was still talking, but he was barely aware of what she said. He held up his hand to make her pause.

"Okay, so we get a tsunami and a new island. Old Ones kidnap Aang. Everyone goes to save Aang, but they don't come back, at least not right away. The island sinks...everyone comes back, but not Aang."

"Yes," said Katara, slowly. "I've been wondering how they knew where to find Aang, and why now all of a sudden this Cthulhu thing wants him. If it's been around for so long, then..."

Sokka waved his hand again, and she for a moment she looked about to encase him once more in ice, but her hands settled on her hips instead. "But the people who come back, they're good enough to fool most people, but not good enough to tell Azula apart from Suzi..."

She interrupted with a disgusted sigh. "Your brain is still frozen. Let's go to the village and sit by the fire."

"No, no, the cold's helping me think," Sokka said. "Why wasn't Aang sent back with the others? If you're going to bother sending anybody back, wouldn't you send Aang, too?"

"Sokka..."

"No! See, this is important, this is..." he pounded his fist into his palm repeatedly, willing the pieces in his mind to connect. "None of this makes any sense."

"Sokka, nothing these creatures do makes sense. They make the spirits look down-to-earth and reasonable."

"Reason? No, the Old Ones could teach us all a thing or two about being reasonable...come on, voice, now would be a great time..."

His mind was silent and lonely. His sister was looking at him as though he were crazy, and perhaps he was. "We're missing something. We made a mistake."

"A mistake? Like what? Aside from your nonsense."

"Argh, I don't know! Just, something's wrong. There's something we haven't thought of."

"I'm still going to the Fire Nation. Tho says he and some of the other waterbenders will come with me."

His shoulders slumped and he shivered, exhausted now. "Just promise me you'll be careful," he said.

She hugged him, and he put his hand on her back. When she pulled away from the embrace, she bent the water out of his clothes and he immediately felt warmer. "I get that you and Azula went through a unique experience, but you've been through some strange things with other people, too. Don't forget about them, okay?"

"Never," he said, rubbing some of the stiffness from his clothes. "I'm gonna go look for Azula before she burns down the swamp. When were you planning on leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning," she said. "I'll be fine."

"I know, I know. It's just with everyone else being in trouble, I worry more."

"You're the one that needs worrying about. Go find your...girlfriend. I'll see you at the village." She walked swiftly down the root, leaving him to return her farewell and climb down in the direction Huu said Azula had gone. He could see her trail easily through the broken vines and water plants, and kept his senses primed for the crackle of fire or the smell of smoke.

Trudging through the dense greenery he felt inexplicably good despite knowing he should not. "Good old swamp," he said, being careful not to break too many branches or vines or to step on any plants that were not moss or thick roots.

He was surprised to see Azula winding her way back over her own trail. When she saw him, she waved and smiled. "Hello, Sokka. It's a fine day, isn't it?"

Sokka halted, his hand on his boomerang. Had they gotten to her somehow? "Are you okay? Huu said you'd be off having a swamp experience."

Her mouth closed but she continued to smile. "I did," she said. "It was very enlightening. Huu is a...very wise man."

Sokka nodded, examining her for signs of new injuries. "He sure is. So, Katara is planning on going back to the Fire Nation tomorrow with some of the swamp benders. She wants to keep an eye on Zuko and the others while we work on things from our end."

"Oh. Well, I do hope she's careful. I'd hate to see something terrible happen to her. I was also looking forward to sharing more of her company." She looked as though she might vomit, but she held her smile and beamed at him with pleading eyes.

He drew his boomerang and bend his legs into a fighting stance, not knowing if a possessed person was still able to bend or not. "You're acting is terrible. What have you done with Azula?" he asked.

Her brow narrowed into a sharp V and her amber eyes blazed. "I just had a life altering revelation, you miserable snow toad..." she stopped, startled by something. After a deep breath, she was calmer. "It's me, you dummy, put that away."

Sokka sheathed his boomerang, satisfied she was the real Azula. "So, ah, what happened out here?"

"It's private," she said, not unpleasantly as she resumed walking down her back trail. "I'm hungry. Do we have any real food left or is it all bugs and melon apples?"

"I think there's some swamp chicken ready to eat. Of course, swamp chicken is what they call these giant dragonflies, so..."

"Ugh. I'll eat anything, just don't tell me what it really is," she said, leading the way back to the village, which they bypassed and went to the grove Appa was sitting in. Some small, colorful birds had taken an interest in him, specifically the bugs in his fur, and he was enjoying their attention.

Azula went up Appa's tail, scaring the birds off, but they soon returned. Sokka watched as she pulled a light, blue tunic from their kit and shook the sand out before removing her mud-spattered one. He averted his eyes until he heard her land next to him, wearing the clean clothing.

"So, about last night," he said.

"I agree, we shouldn't spoil it by talking about it," she said quickly. "Now, get me breakfast."

Rather than go to the fire pit in the village, Sokka decided to fix her something there at their camp. He found a bit of leftover rice and seasoned it with the flesh of some swamp creature, which he did not let her see before he cooked it using the fire she had created.

Without prompting, she told him all that had happened to her in the swamp. The experience had given her the appetite of an ostrich horse, and when she was done eating her food and telling her story, she leaned against Appa's leg, content.

"So, you're not cured or anything?" he asked, suspecting she had left some key detail out, something she felt too private even to share with him.

"Far from it," she said. "I'm going to have a word with our guru friend and ask him to help me. If he wants us to fight more swamp men, that sounds like a fair trade."

Sokka sighed, remembering the swamp cult. They were a distraction from the real mission, but if the swamp tribe needed help they could not refuse, and with Nekka incapacitated he could think of no other useful task. "Maybe he can help me learn to talk with the Old One," said Sokka.

"You might not want that," she said, crossing her arms. "I doubt it's your friend."

There was that hitch in his thoughts again, that oddly shaped jigsaw puzzle piece. Rather than voice any thoughts aloud, he dusted his hands off and put out their cook fire. Katara would be waiting in the village, and he was eager to see how well Azula's slightly improved attitude would be received.

-888-

No villager would look them in the eye or speak to them unless spoken to. Fearful glances were cast towards the swamp, and resentful ones at their backs. Huu confirmed what they suspected, that word of their attack on the cult had somehow gotten around and now the swamp tribe feared retaliation.

They were back at the giant banyan tree where Huu was resting in his normal spot. "The drums started up a few weeks ago and put everybody on edge. We all grew up hearing stories about those folks, you see, and I guess we thought they'd gone off some place or died out. We was content to let 'em alone, but then folks started to come up missing. We closed ranks, of course, and we didn't have no problems after that, but the drums kept going every night, and it seemed they was getting' closer. We were on the verge of deciding whether or not we should move, prepare for an attack, or get ready to fight on our own when you all showed up."

"You should have just asked us to help," said Sokka.

"I guess you're right, but at the time I thought maybe you had enough on your plate. Guess not."

"Were you able to help the girl?" asked Azula.

Nekka was still on the other side of the banyan tree under the careful watch of a woman who assisted Huu with deep healing work, or so he said. He rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Her trouble is two things, her mind and her spirit. The two are linked, you see, and so when she took a mighty shock to one, it caused them both to recoil deep inside her for protection, like when you poke a snail frog and it retreats into its shell. We gotta coax her out so she can heal, but we gotta heal her a little to get her out. It'll take time."

On the one hand, Sokka knew they had time before Cthulhu could cross over, or whatever he planned to do, but on the other, every day that went by was time his minions spent working against them. Again, he had the nagging sense he had missed some important element, or had misunderstood the situation.

"Just to be safe, let's assume the cult is going to get revenge tonight. We need to be ready," Sokka said.

"I've got a plan all set to go if you're game," said Huu.

"We are," said Katara. "I'm putting off leaving for the Fire Nation until this is taken care of."

"Good, we'll need ya," said Huu. "And after tonight, we'll see what we can do for ol' Suzi here."

"You may as well call me Azula," she said.

Huu laughed, holding his belly. "I figured that was who you really was. Fancy you bein' here of all places. Small world, huh? I see the swamp did you some good, maybe it can do you a little more."

Azula bit back a retort, and Sokka smiled. A new and improved Azula was a fantasy he dared not hope for.

"What's the plan, Huu?" Sokka asked.

"You'll like it, it's gonna be a real hoot," he said.

-888-

"You got to admit, this is the kind of thing we'll laugh about later," said Sokka, who was kneeling with his arms and legs bound by vines on a stone slab overlooking a wide, shaded expanse of swamp. Azula knelt beside him, her limbs bound in a similar fashion.

"This is the stupidest plan I've ever seen," Azula said, as they faced the darkening swamp and the rising chorus of insects. "Why are we tied up for real?"

"Huu can bend these vines off us in an instant," said Sokka. "It has to look good, they've got to totally believe we're being offered up as sacrifices, otherwise they might just kill us. Which means we should also be quiet, like good little prisoners."

Truth be told, he thought, the more he tried to explain the sense behind the plan the dumber it sounded, so it was best to keep silent and be thankful no one had pointed out that he had modified Huu's original intent beyond recognition.

Katara and Huu were somewhere nearby, along with some of the swamp tribes stronger benders. Sokka remembered his ear and the scars he now bore from the melee at the library and vowed that this time, things would be different. His boomerang was tucked into the small of his back beneath his tunic, where hopefully it would stay while the benders did their work.

They were some distance from the village by design. Here, it looked like the villagers were offering him and Azula up as recompense for what had happened the previous night, plus it let them pick the battleground. Sokka had been assured the warriors at the village would be able to hold off an attack should the sacrifice be overlooked, but he felt uneasy about it all the same.

Azula had been quite vocal with her misgivings, but Sokka watched her now and thought perhaps she had been impressed, withering criticism just being how she showed her admiration.

"Stop staring at me," Azula said, scowling. "Are all boyfriends this weird?"

The word echoed through the swamp, stopping the singing of the insects and hooting of night creatures.

"Whoa, the B-word," he muttered.

"The B...what are you mumbling about over there? Surely you didn't think you could just..."

He coughed. "Not now," he said.

"Very well, then be quiet and stop acting bizarre," she said, and turned her gaze back to the darkness of the swamp.

-Come on, monsters, where are you?- Sokka thought.

As the swamp grew darker and the drone of insects wore on, Sokka felt his limbs tingle in their bonds. His mind once again began to chew on the riddle of Zuko and the others, why they had been returned and Aang had not. Perhaps whatever Cthulhu needed the Avatar for took time to accomplish, which would explain why it had been done almost a year before the spring equinox and not sooner. -But there's the winter equinox, why is that one no good? Maybe the stars won't be quite right?-

He did not know, and as usual he decided they needed to learn what was written in the Necronomicon to have any hope of making sense of things. Nekka, last he had seen her, seemed little better than before, and she was currently asleep in the longhouse where she and Katara had been staying.

Suddenly there were voices from behind. They made no effort to be silent, and he turned to curse them but saw Katara running over the moss covered rocks to the stone slab. "They're attacking the village!" she shouted, and bent the vines off him and Azula.

"What!?"

"I knew this would happen," shouted Azula, charging past Katara and joining with Huu and the others in the rush to the village.

They smelled the smoke before they saw the fire though the black trees. There were people in the woods when they came, but these were panicked villagers who had halted their flight to watch their homes be destroyed.

Huu had called up a mountain of vines and was moving through the village like a tundra tank, lashing out at prancing shapes that carried torches and machetes. Azula leaped into the fray, sending bolts of lighting into groups of people who Sokka hoped were cultists. "I'll find Nekka, you make sure Appa is okay!" he shouted to his sister as he ran for the long hut.

The building had been set ablaze, presumably by the three things dancing in front of it. Two were fat and toad-like but one was tall with stick-thin limbs whose face had a goat-ish quality. They saw Sokka before he could retreat, and the skinny one closed the distance between them, flailing at Sokka's head with his long arms.

Sokka took the blows with his forearm and charged, digging at the man's rounded belly with the edge of his boomerang. The man went down flailing as the other two approached. Sokka hurled the boomerang, flicking his wrist so it curved into the side of the left man's head. A quick stab of delight shot through Sokka when the boomerang bounced and struck the other man in the face.

He kicked the second man off balance, picked up his boomerang and used it to end the fight. The long hut was completely engulfed. -If she's in there, she's gone,- he thought, looking around for a tangle of white hair. There was nowhere else Nekka would have been, and so Sokka had to hope she fled into the woods, which was unlikely given her state of mind. The idea that she had been kidnapped briefly occurred to him, and while it made him sick to think about it seemed the best thing to hope for.

The center of the village was all fire and moving bodies. He looked for Azula's lighting bolts or blue flames, but did not seem them, only Huu's vine golem wading over demolished huts, swatting at prancing, slashing forms.

"The tree!" he shouted, seeing a group of villagers. "Get to the tree! Grab everyone you can!"

The village was lost and there could not be that many cultists, and so the tree, with the giant, long root leading to it would prove to be a good rallying point, one they could defend until dawn if need be. He began searching for groups of villagers. Most he found were waterbenders or warriors who had stayed to fight. He only convinced a few to head for the giant banyan tree, many instead went searching the swamp where their families had run to. Sokka was about to follow them, but he came across Azula on his way out.

"Where's the girl?" she shouted.

"I don't know. The long hut was completely on fire. I'm telling everyone to get to the giant tree where we can hold them off. Go tell my sister and make sure she and Appa are safe."

For a moment Azula looked as though she would have something better in mind, but instead she nodded and ran off. Sokka went into the woods, avoiding clusters of painted, nearly nude men, women, and things less identifiable.

It was not long after he realized he was being chased when he met with Tho, who was with his friend, Due, and a group of women. Sokka's boomerang and their bending put and end to the loping, yipping things that had been on his heels.

Tho's hand fell hard on Sokka's shoulder, and he winced as the man brought his face close. "We'll be talkin' about this later," he said. "I heard you shouting for everyone to get to the big tree. Why don't you get these folks over there while me n' Due round up the rest. There ain't many left."

Sokka nodded and was released from Tho's hard grip. He led the group of women and children, one of whom was a waterbender, to the great tree, skirting the village. They only encountered one cultist, and the waterbending woman snared his legs in vines while Sokka used his boomerang to finish him. At the tree, he was surprised to see how many had heeded his plan. They were spread out along the root, and he began shouting for benders and warriors to group near the front and for the wounded and children to go towards the trunk.

The village glowed in smokey orange against a backdrop of black, swaying trees. A wind had come up, something rare in the swamp, and for a moment Sokka thought the spirit of the place was moving to help them.

Something was coming up the root. It was Huu with his vines. Behind him streaked blue flames, then a bolt of lighting. The vine golem stopped to form a barrier, then the back split open and Huu stepped out. Azula came tumbling over the top of it, landing on her feet behind the tired waterbender.

"They're scattered and small in number," Azula said. "I doubt they'll be mounting much of an offense."

"Well whoop-de-doo for that!" cried Due, his lanky form looming above them. "We lost our homes, and in case you can't count there's plenty of people still out there in the woods!"

"And all because of you two," snarled Tho.

"Now, Tho, them drums was beating long before they got here, and no one has seen Kremma or Don since they started. This fight was coming and you know it," rumbled Huu as sweat rolled off his thick shoulders and down his chest.

"Silence, fools," said Azula, stepping up to Tho. "Did anyone see the white-haired Water Tribe girl? We're doomed if she's lost."

"I didn't see her," said Tho. "And until we account for our own, I ain't gonna look too hard."

Sokka had been watching the sky, which seemed to float upon the orange glow being thrown up by the burning village. "Yes," he whispered, seeing Appa come floating in with Katara on his back. He landed hard and Katara jumped off, bleeding from her nose. "Are you okay!?" Sokka said, rushing to her.

"Yeah. A bunch of them were after Appa. They had ropes on him, but I freed him. The book is safe."

"You didn't see Nekka by any chance?"

Katara shook her head, her eyes showing concern, bordering on panic. "We have to go find her! She's..."

"Important, I know, but we have to protect these people here. You and I can..."

"What in blazes is that?" Azula said, having climbed atop Huu's vines to get a better look at the village. Huu lowered them into a chest-high wall so all could see.

Something massive was winding its way amongst the flames. Black in color, it held the suggestion of a humanoid with long, thin limbs that moved like dangling ropes rather than bone and muscle. It appeared as large as the giant banyan tree, but some trick of the light or perspective made it seem to shrink as it drew closer. Something that large should shake the ground when it walked, thought Sokka, but it moved like wind.

Murmurs became cries of confusion then full on screams. Many of the warriors abandoned their posts, running back down the tree root or diving into the water bellow. Huu's voice wavered when he spoke. "E-easy now. The tree will protect us."

Sokka doubted that. He wanted nothing more than to avert his eyes from the monstrosity, but he could not look away. It was clearly getting smaller, but that only increased the dread he felt. It had no head to speak of, only a long, vine-like appendage on its slender shoulders that swayed along with its arms.

-Run! Run for your life!- said the thing in his mind.

As it stepped onto the root of the banyan, Sokka thought he felt the tree shudder. -No, it didn't move at all,- he thought. -What is that thing?-

More screams, more men fleeing. The thing shrunk out of sight, and then something truly bizarre appeared.

It was a man wearing a long, yellow sage's robe. He strolled up the tree root and Sokka saw that the strange, domed hood he wore covered his eyes and nose, revealing only his mouth and long, black beard. The man stopped a dozen feet from the vine barrier and smiled, flashing perfect, white teeth.

"Greetings," he said in a voice that made Sokka's stomach churn. "Which one of you is Azula?"


	16. The Things Underground

"Which one of you is Azula?"

All eyes were on her as the man in yellow spoke. There was nothing in his voice or posture that anyone could identify as unsettling, yet everything from his posture to his voice made their muscles tighten and skin itch.

"I am Azula!" she said, drawing herself up and puffing out her chest. "And who is a lap-dog of Cthulhu to address me in such a way? Show some respect to a princess of the Fire Nation."

The man's lips bent into a wry smile as he cocked his head and inspected the haggard group assembled before him. "So that must make you Sokka," the man in yellow said, settling his veiled countenance over him, making his stomach clench. "Oh, and I am no minion of Cthulhu."

"Then who are you?" Azula asked, as the others cringed.

The yellow of the man's garb was like nothing Sokka had ever seen. It made him dizzy to look at it, but he could not bring himself to avert his eyes from the thing it enshrouded.

"I am a humble messenger, come to deliver you from ignorance."

The burning village could be heard crackling and the smell of acrid smoke wafting up behind the robed man stung their noses. He was just as unconcerned by the odor as he was the long silence that stretched on after his words.

"Start delivering, then," said Azula, hands on her hips. "We don't have all evening."

"Nor do I," said the man as he dipped in a shallow bow. "It might interest you to know that you did not strike a blow against hated Cthulhu when you destroyed his shrine last night, but rather you spared it from desecration by flame. Only those who serve the pitiful Cro'Mot dwell in the swamps these days, and it was Cro'Mot's cult you have angered. It will also interest you to know they have taken the star-tainted girl from you as an act of retribution."

Sokka's head was pounding. He rubbed his scarred ear and let his frustration overcome the fear that held him still and silent. "Well, messenger guy, tell Cro'Mot we apologize, and that if he gives Nekka back there won't be anymore trouble."

The man in yellow laughed, a sound that made Sokka sick to hear, sicker than looking at the yellow of his robes.

"I do not serve puny Cro'Mot anymore than I serve Cthulhu. I bear messages from the Demon Sultan Azathoth who rules all from the center of the universe, and who wretched Cthulhu would seek to usurp using the power of your Avatar. I have been watching the feeble efforts of both you and the Old Ones who seek to keep that power from Cthulhu, but you appear to require more direct help than I have been able to manage thus far."

Sokka felt as if the tree root beneath him had shifted. "Whoa, say that last part again?" he asked, stepping closer. He could see Azula and Katara were also bemused, enough to exchange glances with each other.

The man's laugh was loud and hearty; a musical, deep noise that made Sokka taste vomit. The man tilted his yellow-clad head towards the east where the sun was peeking above the banyan trees and through the haze of smoke that covered them like low clouds. "My time has come to an end and you appear to be more ignorant than I expected. Go east, find the temple Cro'Mot has infested and remove him along with his followers. I will be able to speak with you at length there, and perhaps render you some aid."

"We'll do no such thing, creature. How do we know this isn't a trap?" asked Azula.

The man gave her a simpering smile for an answer, and addressed Sokka directly. "Cro'Mot's followers have taken the star-tainted girl to the temple where they will sacrifice her when the sun sets."

He bent low in a mocking bow, then turned away in a swirl of yellow cloth before any questions could be asked. When he was down over the bend of the giant tree root and out of sight, the group held their breaths, waiting for the towering monstrosity to reappear but it did not.

"What just happened?" Sokka asked.

Everyone looked to Huu, who shrugged. "I'm pretty confused myself," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Well I'm not," said Tho, pushing his way to stand before Azula and Sokka. "That fella, or whatever he was, came here looking for you two, which means you gotta git."

"Too bad you weren't paying attention, otherwise you'd know that's exactly our plan," said Azula, stepping up to Tho, stopping short of placing a sharp fingernail on his chest. "We'll have this all wrapped up by the afternoon, maybe sooner if one of you swamp opossums tells us exactly where this temple is."

"Tell 'em, Huu," said Tho. "I'm gonna round up a posse and head on over to the village where you two ain't welcome no more." He pointed to Sokka and Azula with two fingers, then as an afterthought stuck a third towards Katara, who quailed.

All eyes were back to Huu after Tho had gone. Appa grunted and crinkled his nose as the smell of smoke became thicker from the wind shifting. Huu looked towards the village and let out a long sigh, his eyes shining in the growing light.

"Our visitor must mean the mound to the east. It used to be a temple of some sort, we think, but it collapsed and got filled in long before any of us was born. It should be easy to see from the air; I imagine it'll look like a hill, but kinda outta place. I'd offer to go with ya, but I have to stay here and tend to my people."

"Huu, we never meant for this to happen," said Katara, holding back tears and clasping his hands.

"I know, child," he said, touching her shoulder. "Tho will come to his senses soon enough once he realizes this attack was coming our way all along. We might have fared worse had you not been here."

Sokka cleared his throat, giving himself a moment to think his words over while Huu started off towards the village with some of the others.

"Katara, I need you to stay here," Sokka said. "You're a good healer and that's what these people need right now." He was amazed she let him finish, her face darkening as he spoke.

"I'm coming with you. If anyone should stay, it's her. This is her fault."

"How is it my fault!?" Azula shrieked. "You heard the old swamp bat, those freaks were planning something like this anyway. If anything, we should have hit them again before they counter-attacked."

"Let's go," Sokka said, annoyed as he went to Appa and patted the bison's neck. "Katara, if we screw this up you're the only one left who can tell the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom about what's going on."

"I should go and do that anyway," said Katara, crossing her arms. "You're not the boss of me. You're not the boss of Appa, either. I have half a mind to make you walk to the temple."

He turned away from Appa and stood close to her so he could talk in a low voice. Her eyes were shining, and the blood around her nose had dried. Sokka took a rag from his pocket and dipped it in her bending water. She let him dab at her nose while the wind blew the stench of smoke away from them.

"We need to save Nekka, but we can't just bail on these people. Believe me, I'd feel a lot better with you at my back right now; you're the strongest bender I know, but your ability to put things back together is what we need most right now."

Her lip curled. "Sokka, we have no idea who that person was just now, and Azula was right, this is a probably a trap. Those things he said..."

"Those things he said made perfect sense," said Sokka. "We'll save Nekka and maybe we'll finally learn something useful. Trust me, please?"

She nodded and took the rag from him to better clean her face.

"You know," Azula said, her voice a loud wedge. "There can't be many of those cultists left. If they count this as a victory, then one more win for them and they'll be completely annihilated."

Azula was in Appa's saddle and held the cloth-wrapped Necronomicon in her hands. She tossed it down to Sokka, who barely caught it, and with reluctance handed it to Katara for safe-keeping. "I'm going to Omashu in the morning if you're not back," said Katara. "Bumi will listen, even if he's been contacted by whatever is claiming to be Zuko."

Sokka climbed the side of Appa's neck and took his reins. "Why don't you fly to the temple with us, then take Appa back? You'll need him to get to Omashu."

The back of his head was slapped, and he cried out. "This isn't a suicide mission, dummy," snapped Azula. "We'll be finished with our work and be back in time for what these swamp savages call dinner."

"I agree with her, for once," said Katara. "Go, save Nekka, and come back safe. Don't make me come looking for you."

Biting his tongue to stave off another pointless argument, Sokka nodded. "Yip-yip!" he shouted, signaling Appa to rise. He guided the bison high into the air and watched his sister waving to him from the ground.

-888-

From the sky, the mound stood out rather well just as Huu said it might. Sokka suspected he had seen it a few times in passing over the swamp in the past, but it had not been something he had been looking for and so it had gone unnoticed. Appa was made to land in a small pool of water not far from the mound where it took some cajoling in order for him to keep still. Sokka draped vines and sheets of wet moss over his fur to hide him, which Appa took as a sign to be still and silent.

Sokka led the way through the swamp, using his boomerang to push vines out of the way regardless of Azula's insistence that he cut them. Before she could force the issue they broke onto a clear pathway that circled the mossy mound. Nothing grew along the trail, which Sokka noted was unusual given the swamp's predilection towards greenery and life.

The mound itself was covered in vegetation. Mosses, lichens, vines, all of which appeared strange somehow; sometimes in subtle ways, other times not. He avoided touching the mound as he circled it, looking for the way in.

"I wish Toph was here," he said. "You'd be surprised how much you miss having an earthbender around."

"I'll just blast a hole in this thing if I need to," Azula said.

He stopped and turned towards her, thinking for a moment she might be that reckless. Instead she stood with her hands on her hips, upset over him having such a thought.

"You might have to if we don't find the entrance," he said, hoping to make quick peace with her.

Sokka used his boomerang to scrape off some of the moss, then proceeded to walk around the mound. He knew he had come full circle even before he saw the scrape again. "There's gotta be a secret entrance or something," he said, poking the side of the mound with his boomerang as he went for another loop.

"Probably, but we won't find it this way," Azula said, climbing the mound, using vines and moss for purchase. Sokka followed, thinking she had to be as loathe to touch the mound as he was, but it was not a hard climb to the top.

"There, by those trees," she said, pointing to a tangle of twisted banyans; the shadow at the base of their trunks concealed a hole.

They hovered over it, Azula's immolated hand only casting enough light to show them the passage was deep. Sokka felt cold as the memory of the caverns at the south pole blew over his mind, causing his skin to prickle. The color had drained from Azula's face and her brow was beaded with sweat. He took her by her non-flaming hand and squeezed, leading her down into the mound.

Roots and stones served as steps where the tunnel sloped. Azula's light only showed a few feet in front of them and they went slowly until the tunnel leveled out and let them stand. The walls were mostly made of loose dirt and crumbled when touched. Sokka had little faith that the roots and stones that held them up would prevent a cave-in if things got rough.

"This was a terrible idea," he said, his voice loud in the tight space.

"This was all your idea," she said, leading the way with her blue flame while he went with his boomerang tight in hand.

They came to a cavern the size of a small house where coals glowed near one end and a pile of offal and scraps stank on the other. Azula lit a brazier near the coals and extinguished her own flame.

"This reminds me of our little camp at the south pole" she said.

"Ours smelled better," he said, wrinkling his nose.

There were several tunnels bored into the wall like eye sockets that tickled Sokka's brain and made him breathe faster. "This way," he said, deciding the tunnel by the coal pit was the better option, given the smear of blood left on a rock. The air in the room was heavy and it was the same for the tunnel.

The passage wound, dipped, and bent. Luckily they found no alternative routes to get them lost, and while the chambers they entered smelled and looked like living quarters, they found no one to confront them.

"Looks like we picked the right tunnel," he said when Azula's flaming hand showed them in blue hues a stone door frame. The slabs were roughly hewn, but their size showed either an earthbender or a skilled engineer had a hand in placing them. There was no door, only a long, rough set of steps leading down. Standing at the archway, Sokka felt a breeze wafting up, bringing the stink of earth and rot. Braziers glowed farther down.

"I'm surprised we didn't meet anybody before now," he said.

"They probably think the entrance is secret," said Azula. "Or they're planning an ambush. Either way, they're doomed."

"Remember what happened the last time we went down a creepy set of stairs," Sokka said, leading the way.

"I won't get caught by the same trick twice. We'll retreat if we have too, we've got some time yet, assuming what that yellow-clad wastrel said was true."

Sokka had his doubts, but the promise of answers and the need to save Nekka kept him moving forward. The passage smelled less like a combination butcher shop and bathhouse the farther down they went, being replaced by damp, earthen smelling air.

When the ground and walls began to shake, he was startled but not surprised to see a large, perfectly round boulder had dropped from the ceiling behind them. It stopped for a moment and ponderously tipped forward. They ran and the boulder swiftly picked up speed.

"Lookout!" Azula shouted in time for Sokka to see the ropes strung across the passage, just above ankle-height.

It was not a well-thought out trap, for in jumping over the ropes the two had to run all the faster. They soon encountered a more lethal obstacle, however, in the form of a web of cords strung up to block the tunnel like a spider web. Azula burned them away with a single blast of fire, but in so doing she released a second trap.

It was a wooden stake tied to a long pole. Had Sokka been a step slower the sharp end would have hit him in the chest, but instead he collided with the pole that held the spike and it broke against his ribs, knocking him hard on his rear and stopping his breath. He was yanked up by Azula and thrown down the stairs. How he was able to stay on his feet as he stumbled down the steps he would never be able to say.

The boulder was slightly too large for the tunnel, and it tore away chunks of ceiling and wore away the earthen wall as it rolled. Sokka and Azula reached the end of the passage and threw themselves out of the boulder's path with it less than a foot behind them, leaving it to slam heavily against a dirt wall.

Sokka lay on the ground, breathing hard through gritted teeth. "Are you alright?" Azula asked, kneeling over him.

"No," he groaned. "My ribs are broken."

It was worse than that, but with her help he got to his feet and was able to walk with great pain. "Come on, let's move," he said, tasting blood.

"You should stay put." It was a stern admonition, but he thought he detected concern in her tone.

"No, no good," he said, wanting badly to take her advice, but the pull he felt to move forward and get answers was strong.

She ran back up the stairwell and returned with part of the broken stake trap. The spike was tied to the end of the pole at a ninety-degree angle, and when put under his armpit it made a serviceable crutch which he used to hobble forward.

"I don't hear anything coming, so I doubt we'll be getting ambushed," Azula said.

He wanted to ask why she thought that, but speaking was too painful. Breathing hurt, and what little of it he could manage was barely enough to keep him on his feet.

"Stop, you're hurt," she said.

"I'm always hurt," he said.

There were no more tunnels, only a series of interconnected caverns formed by hewn stones. Coal-filled braziers had been lit, casting everything in shadow-filled firelight. They spied a few more blood stains on the floor in an antechamber near a large, square door from where the barest of breezes was flowing.

The antechamber emptied them out onto a flat, stone platform overlooking a square pit filled with black, stagnant water. At the pit's four corners were wooden poles, each supporting part of a net suspended over the water. Lying crumpled in the net like the forgotten prey of a spider was Nekka.

Sokka soon realized the chamber was massive. All that was visible of the ceiling was the earthen parts that hung down, threatening to fall. Nekka was not moving, and beyond her was a flight of stone steps leading up to an alter, around which several pale shapes knelt, heads bowed as they swayed. Behind the altar, Sokka could sense the outline of some colossal shape hidden by darkness.

"Those poles each have winches to lower the net into the water," whispered Azula. "Those fools are all praying to whatever that thing is behind the altar. We'll sneak down there, secure the girl, and while you guard her I'll make those scum pay for getting in our way."

"Slow down," he said, feeling dizzy. "This might be a trap, too."

"No, they were betting everything on that little boulder trick," she said. "Stay here if you can't move."

He hobbled after her, gritting his teeth to keep from making pained gasps. The agony and hard breathing almost caused him to pass out by the time they reached Nekka, and for a moment the smell from the fetid pool was almost enough to fell him.

"Those winches will creak, so it's best I deal with our enemies before we see to the girl," Azula said into his ear. "Wait here."

She crept towards the wide stairs leading to the altar while Sokka put his mind to how they would get Nekka down without dipping her in the water, if that was even what the fluid was. He was distracted by Azula, who moved silently behind the pitiful group of swaying cultists, many of whom were wounded. Sokka thought there would be more, but it seemed their attack on the village was even more ill-fated than he had hoped.

Sokka was still able to pity them despite knowing what they had done to the swamp tribe. Azula's attack was terrible and swift, and they did not see it coming. Her flames made short, screaming work of the remaining cultists, but the worst part was the object behind the altar that her blue flashes of fire and lightning partially revealed.

The statue was immense in its proportions. Whatever it showed was incredibly lifelike, almost as though the thing were not a statue at all but rather some petrified form of an actual being. It was all tentacles, tubes, and mouths. Bulbous protrusions reminded him of the shoggoths, but this being was somehow even more chaotic in form than those amoeba-like monstrosities could ever be.

Sick to his stomach at the sight, he turned to inspect Nekka more closely. She was alive, but her white hair was matted with blood.

"That's that," said Azula, dusting off her hands and descended the stairs to stand near the black pool.

Sokka explained how the winches on one side of the net that held Nekka had to be tightened, while the ones on the other side let out. That would move her to one side of the pool and get her on the ground without her falling in.

It would have been easy for four people, but for two, one injured and the other impatient, it was half an hour of torment, mostly for Sokka.

"That strange man said something else needed to be taken care of as well," Azula said, once Nekka was safely out of the net and over dry stone.

"I really hope that thing up there isn't supposed to be it," said Sokka, using his crutch to knock the net into the pool. The water was thick, not as much as the oil it resembled, but enough to make him wonder about what it really was.

He was startled when a thin, black tentacle emerged from the sludge and swung around in an effort to latch onto something. It fell back in and more tentacles came to replace it; they boiled over the edge of the pool and onto the stone like spilled fish intestines.

Azula's lightning bolt vaporized some of the black, oily water, filling the air with a noxious stench that made Sokka gag and swoon from pain. His legs were ensnared by tentacles, and his panic and disgust overrode his agony to let him slash at them with his boomerang and crawl away. His efforts were not enough, and it took Azula's flames toasting his feet to get the appendages to let go. While she concentrated her fire into the pool, Sokka, ignoring his crutch, limped over to Nekka and attempted to rouse her.

Her wan face was slack as death, but she still breathed. The blood in her hair was dark and clotted, but the lump she had developed was the size of a monkey goose egg.

The black appendages were appearing at all sides of the pool, extending across the stone despite Azula's flames turning them to ooze as she danced out of their reach. More tentacles flooded out, and the center of the pool was rising as though a giant, misshapen bubble were being blown from underneath.

Azula hurled lightning bolts into the growing mass, ignoring the tentacles. -That must be Crow Mop, or whatever he called it,- Sokka thought, looking to the shadows if the giant temple chamber for signs of the man in yellow.

Sokka dragged Nekka up the steps towards the altar. Halfway up he had to stop as the pain in his ribs would not let him go farther. He looked to see Azula was getting tired. She went backwards up the steps towards him while shooting flames at the thing bubbling up from the pit. She stopped suddenly and with a sweep of her arm created a wall of blue fire on the steps below.

"That thing is huge! We need to find a way out or else we're doomed!" Azula shouted.

His view of the other side of the chamber was obscured by her flames, but he had not remembered seeing any other passages on that side when they came in. "What I wouldn't give for an earthbender right now," he said, grabbing Nekka and taking her farther up the stairs. He felt like vomiting, his body having been pushed too far as the air filled with the rancid stench of burning monster.

"We don't have an earthbender! Focus!" Azula shouted.

Sokka looked around again for the man in yellow, but cast all thoughts of help aside as he sought a passage or an air vent they might slip through.

The cavern was higher than the mound had looked from the outside, meaning they had to be far underground. In the walls and ceiling he could see the remnants of the temple, giant hewn bricks and pillars all stuck into the rocky earth. His eyes kept returning to the ceiling where he knew there was no chance of escape, but finally his mind saw what his eyes wished it to.

"Azula," he croaked, his voice weak. "Azula..." He was having trouble drawing enough breath to speak loudly, much less shout. He slapped her leg to get her attention and pointed to the ceiling. "Earthbend."

"I'm a firebender, you dummy!" She knelt beside him. "Come to your senses or I'll slap you!"

"Wha?" he said. "Blast...ceiling...earthbend."

She looked up, then back at him, eyes aglitter. With a wide, flowing movement she sent a powerful lightning bolt streaking into the ceiling above the monster sending tons of dirt and rock down onto it. Black ooze trickled from the stones, mixing with dirt and dust to form a thick slurry that bled away in streams. Something about the runoff had a distinct dying quality that Sokka found comforting.

"Ha! Anything an earthbender can do, a firebender can do better," Azula declared.

He did not wish to argue, and could not have done so if he had, for a sudden wave of dizziness overtook him and he passed out. Azula jostled him back to wakefulness, but he still felt like he would vomit.

"N-nekka...get..."

Azula set him down gently, as someone was giving them polite applause.

"Are you going to stand there and clap all day or help me get my allies to safety?" asked Azula, the question rhetorical.

"Neither," said the man in yellow, ceasing his clapping. "But with Cro'Mot dead, none will harry you on your way out and we are free to converse at our leisure."

"I have no time for pleasantries, creature," Azula said. "You said you would give us answers, so give them."

Sokka tried to turn to see the man in yellow, but the pain in his ribs would not let move far.

"Ask, and I shall tell," he said.

"Who are you, and who is this Azathoth you were prattling about earlier?"

"Your kind calls me Nyarlathotep whenever they think I might be listening. I express the will of the Demon Sultan Azathoth, who you see depicted in extremely muted glory behind me. This was once a temple to mighty Azathoth, which that barnacle, Cro'Mot, attached itself to. This is a place of power, you see, where the Membrane is thin and I am free to speak and act."

"So, this group of degenerates had nothing to do with Cthulhu, or the one you serve?"

"No, they worshiped Cro'Mot and likely had him confused for the Great Demon Sultan. Cro'Mot was effectively blocking my entrance into this world, although I was able to speak to you last night for a brief period."

Sokka was, by inches, moving to face Nyarlathotep. He wished mightily for his strength to return, for he feared every word out of Azula's mouth would lead to some sudden doom.

"You're welcome. Destroying the creature and his followers was my pleasure," she said , standing on the steps below Nyarlathotep as though she were a queen and the one with the high ground, meanwhile Nyarlathotep stood with his arms folded, like a polite and patient monk. "You said something about the Old Ones having the Avatar for safekeeping? Explain. Where are they holding him and why is he not safe there?"

Nyarlathotep laughed, and Sokka tried to push himself up on his arms, but could not. "They have him in their city beneath the sea."

"Not R'lyeh?"

Another laugh, Nyarlathotep's white teeth making his skin appear as bronze and his sickening robe all the yellower.

"No, of course not," said Nyarlathotep. "R'lyeh does not fully occupy this world, but that doesn't matter. Know this, the Old Ones ruled this planet long ago, but were enslaved by Cthulhu and his star-spawn. It is the Old Ones, along with their shoggoth creations, that built R'lyeh, the seat of Cthulhu's power. They were able to sink the city and send it to a side dimension, along with Cthulhu, by some means unknown to me."

"We'd surmised as much," said Azula. "What we haven't confirmed is what a thing like Cthulhu could possibly want with the Avatar."

Nyarlathotep put his hands together, long, slender things that made the skin crawl to behold. He smiled, enjoying some hidden aspect of the conversation. "I'll be happy to confirm your suspicions," he said. "Your Avatar is called the bridge between worlds. He can also bend all four elements, plus some others, while most humans can only bend one element, correct?"

"True," said Azula, noting along with Sokka the barest hint of uncertainty in Nyarlathotep's tone. "You can't mean Cthulhu wants to learn to bend?"

"In a sense, yes," said Nyarlathotep. "If he can combine his powers with that of the Avatar, he will attain the ability to cross the infinite gulfs of space and overthrow the Demon Sultan, who as we speak rests in a mindless state of idiocy, harming only the few foolish enough to seek him out. Cthulhu in his place would not be so inert."

-So you say, messenger boy,- Sokka thought, coughing. It pained him too much to speak.

"Fair enough," said Azula. "Now you say the Old Ones have taken the Avatar for safe keeping, but who took my brother and the people he was with?

"Deep Ones, mostly likely," said Nyarlathotep. "They live out part of their lives on land, appearing as your kind does, then they change form and take to the sea. They worship Cthulhu and work with the star-spawn that escaped the Old One's purge."

"They seem to have sent back impostors in their place. How was this done?"

Nyarlathotep shrugged, his robes cascading like poured oil. "There are a number of ways of accomplishing such a feat, but suffice to say the minds of your friends are likely locked away inside their own bodies while the essence of a star-spawn controls them. To what end, I can not say."

Sokka breathed a sigh of relief, the image of his friends' brains being kept in jars somewhere under the sea having been banished.

"Good to know," said Azula, "Now, why are you not confident in the Old One's ability to keep the Avatar from Cthulhu's clutches?"

Nyarlathotep spread his hands as if silently praising an apt pupil. "The Old Ones were weakened from their time of enslavement and were thus unable to keep their own slaves in proper check. The shoggoths, while lacking true consciousness, have an unmatched aptitude for mimicry and emulation. They followed in their master's footsteps and staged a little coup of their own, greatly diminishing the Old Ones' power and influence. Put simply, they do not have the ability to keep the Avatar from Cthulhu when he comes."

"Why...now?" Sokka gasped. "Why is this happening...now?"

Nyarlathotep looked at him with disdain, then turned his attention to Azula when she spoke. "Yes, why make their move now? Is it because the stars are supposedly right? Seems like they've been procrastinating if only now they're moving to protect the Avatar."

Sokka bent his head to the floor to keep from looking at the man's smile. It was a hideous thing to see, a gross parody of human mirth.

"Oh, there have been attempts by the Old Ones in the past to remove the Avatar from the equation," said Nyarlathotep. "The Avatar is reincarnated, yes? And does it not follow some sort of cycle between the various tribes your species has divided itself into?"

Azula caught Sokka with a sideways glance, and both were silent, their breath having caught in their chests. Nyarlathotep smiled broader, then he folded his awful hands again. "Suffice to say, the Old Ones have tried to end the Avatar's existence before..."

"What are you saying?" Azula asked. "One hundred years ago my great grand father led the Fire Nation to war against the airbenders, wiping them out in an effort to destroy the Avatar. Are you saying these Old Ones had something to do with that?"

Nyarlathotep pursed his lips, his mouth pantomiming befuddlement. "The Old Ones consort with me about as much as they do with Cthulhu, so I wouldn't know," he said. "Perhaps you can ask them after you find the Avatar and break the cycle yourselves."

"No!" Sokka shouted, earning a withering scowl from Nyarlathotep.

"You want us to kill the Avatar?" Azula asked, not sounding nearly as upset as Sokka wanted her to be.

"Simply killing him would cause him to reincarnate. That might hide him from most, but it won't save him from Cthulhu, who will consume all life on this planet once he has returned. No, you must break the cycle. Kill him in such a way that he won't reincarnate, that way when Cthulhu takes his vengeance on this puny rock he'll have nothing but ashes to fill his mouth."

Sokka pulled himself into a sitting position, groaning angrily as he did. "None of that makes sense," he hissed. "The Old Ones must know they can't hide Aang from Cthulhu, so why haven't they ended the cycle themselves?"

A long, thin finger was pointed at Sokka, and his stomach cramped. "Because, just as I do not know how they managed to banish Cthulhu the first time, they do not know how to end the Avatar cycle. I'm sure that if they could wipe out your entire race with one blow they would, but as I told you before they are greatly diminished."

Azula looked to Sokka again and pondered something for a long moment. "Why not simply read the secret in the Necronomicon yourself?" she asked.

"Ah, an intelligent question," said Nyarlathotep. "Your little friend's woes do not simply stem from having acquired knowledge beyond her understanding. The book's author placed powerful wards upon it, you see, to keep the likes of me from reading it."

"The book's author was a human sandbender," scoffed Azula. "What could he have done to shield it from the likes of you?"

Nyarlathotep frowned, some of his endearment with her dripping away. "Al-Hazred had powerful patrons, let's leave it at that," he said.

It was Azula's turn to smile. How she was not made ill by the man's every gesture Sokka did not want to guess at. "You don't know how to properly kill the Avatar either, do you? That's why you've come to us, why you brought us here. I wouldn't be shocked if you orchestrated everything that's led us up to this little meeting."

"Perhaps," said Nyarlathotep.

"Enough," Sokka said. "If we can get to the Old Ones, we can talk to them, find out how they beat Cthulhu the first time...maybe do it again..." His ribs were agony, but he could see Azula was not going to pursue the path he wanted.

What she said then surprised him.

"Forget the Old Ones and forget the Avatar," she said. "You said nothing will stop Cthulhu from destroying us all, so slaying the Avatar benefits us in no way. If anything, the monster will be angrier at us when it does arrive."

Sokka wished she would stop saying things that made Nyarlathotep laugh, for the sound was worse than any twist of his features or shuffle of his robes. "You would seek to placate Cthulhu? Curry his favor perhaps? You are a greater fool than I took you for."

"The fool here is you," she said, calmly. "We have nothing to gain at all from killing the Avatar. The way I see it, if we must die then you and your idiot Demon Sultan can do the same."

-Yeah!- Sokka thought, too pained to voice his agreement.

A grin snapped onto Nyarlathotep's face, and he bowed. "You're right, of course. I had the notion that altruism was a trait of your bizarre, simple species but I see it does not run strong in all of you...but wait...I sense something else in you. Ah, you've been compromised, as has your companion."

Azula looked at him as though he were a carnival barker. "I can't speak for him, but I assure you my logic is my own," she said. "What are you playing at, creature?"

"Creature? I am a simple sage, a messenger. I can sense that your mind is polluted by another entity. I could remove it for you, then your thinking might be clearer."

Sokka was trying to bring himself to his feet using his boomerang for support. He had seen the effect Nyarlathotep's words had on Azula, and knew he had lost her, at least somewhat. "Hold up," he said. "You said we needed Nekka to tell us what's in the Necronomicon. I guess you lied, but it was part of the deal for coming here...Fix her, first."

Azula looked angry for a moment, but then nodded. "Yes, see to the girl first, unless you can't help her."

Nyarlathotep held out his hands and gestured to the altar. "You may need the book's secrets to reach the Old Ones," he said, after a pause. "Place her there and I shall render aid. Hopefully you'll change your minds about what must be done."

Azula took it upon herself to lift Nekka's still form and carry her to the stone slab. Nyarlathotep raised his hands over his head, letting his sleeves fall down to reveal long, thin forearms. He clapped his hands together then lowered them over her body, moving them up and down about a six inches above her still form.

After making several passes from Nekka's legs to her head, he rested his hands on her face. Sokka decided then that he would not be allowing Nyarlathotep to touch him, that he would live is entire life with the Old One inside his mind before he allowed those hands on his face.

Azula was brimming with impatience until Nekka convulsed and Nyarlathotep took his hands off her. Azula removed her from the slab and speedily set her down on the floor near Sokka where her body trembled. "If he does anything suspicious, use your boomerang," she whispered.

She did not need to lay on the alter. Nyarlathotep bid her to stand still while the heel of his palm touched her forehead, a spot Sokka thought he might never kiss or touch again. There was a yellow light coming from where Azula's head and Nyarlathotep's hand met. It was sickening to behold, and made worse when a black cloud entered it, like dark fluid poured into a glass of clear, yellow liquid. Soon the yellow light was gone and all that remained was an inky, black orb between Azula's head and Nyarlathotep's palm.

Her body began to shudder and where the black orb touched her head there was a line of silver-blue light. It grew, and in an instant Sokka forgot the pain in his ribs and thew his boomerang into the dark ball of energy.

There was a great explosion of force, like a hot tornado had touched down and everything went black.

Sokka thought he had been blinded and touched his eyes to find them undamaged. He felt around for Nekka, who groaned, the he called out to Azula as the darkness slowly began to ebb away, driven back by the torches and braziers.

Nyarlathotep was gone, and Sokka thought Azula had disappeared with him until he saw her lying halfway down the stone steps. He got to his feet, fell, then dragged himself to her. She was unconscious and for a moment he was ruled by panic, shaking her and shouting her name. The pain in his torso forced him to be calm, and he held his ear over her lips and relaxed a bit when he felt her breath.

With a groan, Sokka laid still beside her. Nothing was collapsing, nothing was closing in on them, and his body was sending him signals that he had pushed it too far. He could not feel his arms or legs, and rather than nausea, a light, tingling sensation burned in his stomach while his head swirled.

-888-

He awoke from a dream about water. It faded from his memory quickly, like raindrops in the desert, and he felt about for Azula but did not find her. He was about to call out when she came to stand over him. "You're awake," she said, smiling. "Finally."

"Glad to see you're okay, too," he said. "That yellow guy tried to pull something, so I gave him the 'ol boomerang, then everything went dark and he was gone."

"He tried to take my mind," said Azula. "When I woke up I couldn't even remember who I was, but you were unconscious for so long my memories had time to return."

Sokka briefly entertained the possibilities of a memory-less Azula, but it was not to be, and so he inquired about Nekka. She was still unconscious, but breathing easily. Azula carried her back through the temple while Sokka followed far behind on his crutch. Azula returned to help him once she had deposited Nekka near the temple's entrance, and it was Azula alone who fetched Appa and using ropes got Sokka and Nekka up the long tunnel.

It was late in the afternoon when Appa took to the air. Sokka felt like he was going to die, and given the pain he was in, he could not see that as a completely bad thing. Each breath he took made him nauseous with pain. Nekka remained unconscious, and given Nyarlathotep's treachery, he worried about her, only the pain took most of his attention from the matter.

Appa landed in the grove he had been in when they first arrived at the swamp village. Sokka was about to pass out when he felt Azula plant a kiss on his forehead before saying she would fetch his sister.

"Help me get him down," he heard Katara say. She was in Appa's saddle, with Azula, and he opened his eyes to get a look at them both. Katara had dark rings under her eyes and her voice was slow after she was satisfied he was not mortally wounded. She only gave him a cursory looking over before moving to Nekka, who while unconscious had been more animated than before, as if in a fitful sleep. "That's a nasty bump she's got," Katara said. "Well, this is good I guess. Nothing I can't heal."

"I take it you won't be going to the Fire Nation so soon?" said Azula.

"No, not yet. We should stay here and rest as long as we can. If the cult isn't coming for us, then..."

"Then something else will," said Sokka, his voice pained. "Everywhere we go we get attacked. Something finds us."

"We'll be driven off by these savages anyway," said Azula.

"They're not savages," Katara said, pulling a large globule of water up from the swamp and filtering it before guiding it over to Sokka. "I had a long talk with Tho and Due, and they'll let us stay, just not near what's left of the village."

"Ingrates," Azula said. "Tell them I'll remember this."

"Forget about it," said Sokka as the water enveloped him. He was floated off Appa's back and to the ground, followed by Nekka. Azula set to work building a temporary camp while Katara removed Sokka's tunic to evaluate his wounds.

"Does it hurt to breathe?" she asked, putting her ear over his bruised chest. "Breathe in for me." He did and winced. "You've bruised a lung, which isn't as bad as a puncture. I'm going to have to do a lot of work on you, but that can wait." She went to Nekka and with Azula's help, cleaned the girl's head wound and bandaged it.

"She has to come first," said Sokka. "You'll know why...when Azula tells you." He forced his words out like air from a bellows.

"I know she's important, Sokka," Katara said. "What happened to you all? Did that man tell you anything or was it a trap?"

Azula told her about Nyarlathotep and all that transpired between them. Katara nodded, clearly as confused as they had been. By the end, her face was equal parts terrified and hopeful. "So, Aang is safe, then?" she said.

"As safe as an animal in a trap," said Azula.

Katara was kneeling over Sokka, doing her best to keep her thoughts positive so her healing energies worked properly. "That Nyarlathotep, we can't trust anything he said."

"Not all of it, no. I think he's lying about having to kill the Avatar," said Azula.

"Like that bothers you," said Katara, letting her water fall onto Sokka, soaking him.

"I don't recall pretending it did," Azula said, standing up. "And given that we all perish when Cthulhu comes, Avatar or no Avatar, perhaps I'll let him live just to spite this stupid universe."

She stormed off and for a moment Katara seemed like she would go after her, but instead she picked the water off Sokka, drying him, and resumed using it to heal his ribs and lungs. "You know..." he began to say.

"Yes, I know," Katara said, serenely. "I'll apologize when I'm done here, but don't annoy me or the negative energy might make you worse."

She healed him in silence, the green-blue ball of water made him feel numb inside in a way that refreshed him. He could breathe without pain, and as he did so he relaxed and hovered near sleep.

"Are you sure that man didn't mess with their minds?" Katara asked.

"I don't know what he did to Nekka, but it's like Azula said, I saw him draw something dark out of her, then something else. I don't know, I acted on instinct and stopped it. It looked like he was trying to pull more out of her than just the monster."

"Or maybe put something in," Katara muttered.

"I doubt it," Sokka said.

She sighed deeply, and touched his head. "I guess you're healed enough for now," Katara said. "You go find your girlfriend while I work on Nekka."

Frowning, he got up and put his tunic on. He took a stick with him to use for balance and soon he found Azula away from the village, sitting on a tussock and looking out over a mossy pool as though debating whether or not to attack it.

"Hey," he said.

She looked at him, then back at the pool. "I hate your sister."

"She's sorry," Sokka said, sitting next to Azula on the tussock and stirring the water with his stick.

"She should be. I forgot to mention that given what a little goodie-goodie the Avatar is, he might sacrifice himself on his own. Perhaps he's done so already, how would we know? That yellow freak certainty didn't come off as all-knowing, I doubt he has a clue, either."

"Eh, somehow I don't think Aang is dead. Just a hunch. How are you feeling? Is it...?"

"Gone," she said, leaning into him. "I feel like I've had a long bath."

"Good," he said, touching her hand. "We needed things to go our way for once."

"We've been doing alright so far," she said. "Better than I expected."

He let out a long breath as his fingers tapped the back of hers. She was technically right, so he did not argue.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm working on a plan to get us to him, but it's going to make everything we've done until now look like a walk on the beach." He swirled his stick in the water, watching the ripples he made.

"Excellent. Maybe this time you'll finally get us killed."

He smiled and leaned into her. "It's a really great plan. It's got huge gaps, lots of assumptions, and it's going to need more luck than we have any right to expect."

"I can't wait to hear it," she said. "Will you be giving me a sneak peek, or do I have to wait until you spell it out in front of the others?"

"I'm still making it up," he said, moving his face closer to hers. She did not pull away, nor did she come closer. "Step one is I sleep for the rest of today. Step two is I eat dinner. Step three is I come up with more steps. Like it so far?"

She looked behind them to see they were alone, then locked her amber eyes with his blue ones. "Mind if I add a step?"

"Be my guest. Just be gentle, my ribs hurt."


	17. The Shadow Over Outer-Maw

Sokka woke up alone beneath the tree that he and Azula had been under. She was nowhere in sight so he got dressed, feeling as though his wounds were well on their way to healing.

Back at the camp with Appa there was no sign of Azula or his sister, but Nekka was sitting by a low burning fire. She turned towards him first with her eyes, then her head followed. Gone was her empty stare and in its place was something harder for him to look upon.

"Nekka!" he said, smiling wide. "How are you feeling?"

He sat down beside her, but kept his arms close to his body.

"My head aches," she said, not taking her gray eyes off him.

Sokka nodded, forcing himself to look at her. Now that it was gone, he noticed she had been an attentive girl, eager and searching in her subtle movements and expressions. Some of that was still there, but it was more like a yawning chasm now, content to sit and let the world around it be pulled in.

"Are you sure you're okay? You had a pretty bad shock back at the library," he said, hoping no one else was around to hear those words.

"I remember nothing after entering the Forbidden Room," Nekka said. "Your sister told me I've been catatonic for days."

"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen, and if I did I never would have asked you to try and read that book. I won't ask you even look at it again. In fact, we should burn it," he said, his words coming out fast.

Her face clouded over and she shook an errant strand of white hair from her face. "Don't be silly," she said. "I made my choice, Sokka, and I'm fine. Your sister and that princess told me what happened in the temple. Do you know who that man in the yellow robe was?"

"He said his name was Gnarly-something, claimed to be messenger for Azathoth."

"Nyarlathotep. We're lucky to have gotten out of there," she said, her serene lake of a face rippling with fear.

"Yeah, he seemed like bad news, but it looks like he was in the dark on a few things."

"Like how to break the Avatar cycle, and how the Old Ones banished Cthulhu," Nekka said, smiling impishly.

"Right," Sokka said, thinking he should keep the secret of how to break the Avatar cycle to himself as much as possible. "Um..."

"I know how the Old Ones banished Cthulhu," she said, leaning in as though telling a childish secret.

Sokka smiled back and nodded, waiting for her to say more and almost hoping she would not. The yawning chasm was not so empty.

She sucked in her lower lip as she rocked back and forth, whether she was excited or apprehensive he could not say.

"Nekka."

"Oh, um...well, it seems they had some kind of power in one of their cities that was able to thicken the Membrane..."

"A power? What's this Membrane stuff all about?"

"The barrier between the worlds. The Old Ones were somehow able to move Cthulhu to another world, then block his return."

Sokka nodded, and tossed a stick on the fire. Rubbing his hands together, he got comfortable. "Yeah, that Narth guy said something like that. What's this power all about, then? Can we use it?"

Again she sucked in her lip. "The Necronomicon isn't what you think it is. I said 'power' because that's the closest translation I can come up with. That's all it says, that the Old Ones had something that let them thicken the Membrane."

"Oh," he said, rubbing his wrists.

"It's a fascinating book," she said. "It says other things about the Old Ones, too, like how they can move minds, engineer bodies, all sorts of things."

For a moment she was her old self, but the illusion did not last long. She was deeper now, Sokka thought, and while she was not trying to hide whatever was sunken inside her, nor could she show it all at once.

"Good to know," he said. "I wouldn't read it again unless you have to, just to be safe. It looks like we have to go see the Old Ones anyway, so we'll just ask them."

A burst of shrieking laughter suddenly erupted from her, showing him some of what was beneath her wide, yawning face. Slowly, she calmed down and chuckled, the crackling cook fire apparently having a soothing affect on her.

"Sorry. What you said was funny," she said.

"Uh, will that work? Can you, like, ask them stuff?"

Rather than laugh, she looked sad. "Has an otter penguin ever asked you for help?"

"Well, no, but if one did I think I'd listen," said Sokka. "Look, if you've got a better idea, by all means tell me." He let out an exasperated breath. "Sorry. I'm gonna try and get everyone together to talk strategy. Do you know where my sister and Azula went?"

Nekka shook her head and went back to looking at the fire as its black coals turned to white ash. "I think they went to the village. We're not welcome there, I'm told, but they tolerate Katara and are too afraid of Azula to tell her to go away."

Sokka was in no hurry to move even though being near Nekka disturbed him. Distant thunder caused him to pick his head up, and he saw the sky had become overcast, as though the swamp had grown tired of them, along with its people.

Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of a beaten and tired Tho. Sokka was glad to see his sagging eyes held no hostility, but the sadness there was painful to see and he made himself look.

"Feelin' alright?" asked Tho. His perpetual stubble had lengthened into a short, mottled beard.

"Better than I did before," Sokka said, getting to his feet.

"I suppose I should apologize about what I said before. I wish ye hadn't started things before we was ready, but I guess a fight was comin' and we woulda made out worse without ya around," he said.

"We should have been more cautious," Sokka said. "We're sorry. At least I am."

"I reckon so," Tho said, crossing his arms. "I also reckon it wasn't your idea. You wanna watch out for women like that, otherwise you'll be apologizin' for 'em your whole life."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, shaking Tho's hand. "Katara said the other day you were planning on taking her to the Fire Nation. Still up for that? We might all be going."

Tho scratched his scraggly chin. "If it will get you on your way faster, I suppose so," he said. "I don't mean to sound unfriendly, but some folks around here have come to think you're cursed."

"We are," Sokka said glumly.

"Let me know when you plan on leaving. I got a boat fit for ocean travel. More of a river man myself, but water's water."

Tho took no note of the light drizzle of rain that began to fall, while Sokka held out his hand and looked up to feel the tiny pinpricks on his face. Appa grunted and moved beneath the shelter of a thick tree while Nekka followed him, leaving the fire to hiss and sputter.

Tho helped Sokka sling a piece of canvass over a branch, forming a lean-to that Nekka was quick to sit under. Tho did not seem to mind the rain, his leaf hat shedding it over his shoulders as it intensified. Sokka was fast soaked, but knowing Katara could dry him in an instant he enjoyed the feeling of the drops on his head. "Have you seen my sister and the other girl?"

"You mean your girlfriend? She's why I came over here in the first place," Tho said. "She's in the village. You should get to her before somebody tries to drown her."

Azula was standing in the middle of the village by the cooking pit. Heavy smoke was rolling off long, wet boughs of wood that she kept aflame with her bending.

"I said dry wood. Dry, not wet. That's why there's smoke everywhere."

This she said to a slender woman who had dropped a load of wet sticks next to the fire and walked away without a word or eye contact. "Finally," Azula said, exasperated. "You seem to be able to speak swamp language. Tell these people that..."

"Ah, ah, ah, settle down," Sokka said. "We've got stuff to do other than take care of fires. I know that's your thing, but where's Katara?"

"My thing? True, I am the best firebender in the world, but keeping cooking pits ablaze is not 'my thing.'"

"Great, give it a rest, then, you're annoying everyone."

Her cheeks flushed red and for a moment she was beautiful before rage contorted her features. Sokka keenly felt all the eyes of the village on him as Azula's nostrils flared. Suddenly, her shoulders slumped and her chin went up as she presented a serene smile. "You have a talent for dealing with the lower classes, so I'll defer to your judgment."

He eyed her warily, as if expecting a sharp insult or a lick of flame on the back of his neck. She was clearly tired, but her pale skin held a glow it did not before.

"We need to get Katara and Huu over to the camp. Tho, too, if he's not there. It's time to talk about my plan."

"You'll find them by the giant tree. If I remember which one is Tho, I'll tell him," said Azula.

Soon they were all gathered at the camp. They stood close to the sizzling fire, to which more wood had been added while Azula kept it hot.

"Alright," said Sokka, clapping his hands together. "It's pretty much settled that we need to go see the Old Ones, who we know live under water somewhere off the coast of the Fire Nation islands. The question is, how to we get there? Katara, I'm guessing your waterbending, strong as it is, won't cut it at that depth?"

She shook her head, appearing annoyed but not ashamed.

"If she's not strong enough why don't we recruit a few more waterbenders?" asked Azula.

Katara sighed, fists on her hips. "Do you have any idea how strong the water pressure is that far under the sea? It'd be like you trying to bend your way out of the middle of a volcano."

"Lava is earth, not fire," said Azula.

"The sun, then. Either way..."

"Alright, alright, we all know we can't bend our way out of this. I'm sure waterbending could get us down there, but the problem is we might have to fight when we get there and a bubble might not be the safest thing to be in. Katara, do you know if Piandao was able to get one of the old subs from the invasion?"

"I don't know," she said. "He might have been more concerned with Iroh. I didn't get a chance to talk to him before I left."

Sokka sighed and squeezed the water out of his wolf's tail. The rain was still coming down and he felt a chill setting in beneath his skin. His plan would have sounded so much better had he known Piandao had secured a submarine. "Okay, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll have one for us, but we can't count on that so we'll have to make plans to steal one."

He could see none of them liked what he was saying, but they had no better ideas. "Great, so that's settled. Tho has been kind enough to offer us a ride to the Fire Nation, haven't you, Tho?"

Tho nodded once and spit into the fire. "Ayup."

"Wait, what about Appa?" asked Katara, beating Azula to the question.

Appa grunted, hearing his name spoken. Sokka knew he would miss the shaggy beast, and not only for his power of flight. "I'm hoping Huu will be nice enough to look after him," Sokka said.

"He's pretty popular with folks around here," said Huu. "Even if some of you aren't." While he did not look at Azula, she scowled at him all the same.

"We're going to have to be sneaky, and Appa's a lot of things, but sneaky isn't one of 'em," said Sokka. "Also, I think Cthulhu's flunkies are getting ready for something really nasty. We haven't been attacked by them in a long time, which worries me. They know we like to fly on Appa, so maybe it's best we shake things up a bit."

It was plain that he had not convinced them of this part, and he feared he would cave on this for he had his own misgivings about leaving Appa behind.

"The bison seems like the least of our handicaps. We had wanted posters hanging up as far away as the Si Wong foothills, how do you plan on walking about the Fire Nation so freely?" asked Azula.

"Same way we did last time," said Sokka. "Disguises!"

Katara groaned. "I don't think your fake beard is going to cut it this time. People know us better near the capital now, we won't be able to just change our clothes. Especially Azula."

"Bah. We'll get some Earth Kingdom threads and I can pass myself off as a trader from the Si Wong Desert, here to introduce my sister and grandmother to the family of my lovely new wife from the Fire Nation."

He pointed to Katara, Nekka, and Azula respectively, feeling awkward, and thankful that the rain helped keep his cheeks from coloring. He expected immediate objections, but to his surprise each woman seemed to be pondering his idea.

"I suppose, with some work, I could hide my noble features," said Azula.

"Was my hair always white?" asked Nekka, earning concerned glances.

"Fine," said Katara. "But saying we're from the desert might be laying it on a little thick. We went around the Fire Nation before and no one thought we were Water Tribe."

"Whatever, " said Sokka. "But we have been traveling and we're kind of an odd crew, so we need a cover story if anyone asks. Which hopefully they won't, because we'll be too busy to talk to anyone. Alright, let's do it. Tho, when can we leave?"

He spit into the fire and looked at the sky. "Tomorrow morning," he said. "I'll come get ya. I know a family that had some Earth Kingdom style clothes they wore whenever they headed north to trade. They don't need 'em no more."

With that, he left, leaving them to be silent while Huu scratched his head. "Well, if I don't see ya before you leave, goodbye I suppose," he said.

"I'll help you with the wounded until then," said Katara, following him.

Azula joined Nekka beneath the lean-to, while Sokka sat getting wetter in the rain and feeling like he had just lost an argument.

-888-

When morning came, Sokka found there was one remaining objector to his plan: Appa.

The bison had sensed the parting of ways and made it clear he was going to follow them whether they liked it or not. Sokka, feeling silly, tried to explain the reasons for leaving him, but the bison was having none of it. Huu had come over to their camp to bid them farewell, and seeing Appa's discontent brought him to the base of the giant banyan tree.

"This tree is especially good for healing loneliness and isolation," he said, turning to Katara. "I bet you can guess why."

"The tree is the swamp, and the swamp is connected to all living things," she said. "To be honest, it's why I've been spending so much time around it."

Her words struck Sokka like a fist. He had been trying not to think about Aang, knowing his friend was beyond his immediate help and that worrying would only hinder his rescue, but Katara, how much worse had it been for her?

With Appa by the banyan tree, he calmed down and let Huu place his hand on his nose and start to hum. The thick lids over the bison's big brown eyes drooped and closed, his breathing became heavy, and he settled down into a light slumber.

"I'll be here when he wakes up," said Huu. "If I'm peaceful enough he'll pick up on it and understand nothing is wrong. I won't leave his side, no matter what."

"We can't thank you enough," said Sokka. "And again, I'm sorry about all of this."

"I know what's at stake," Huu said. "Just carry on and take care."

As they left, Appa let out a low grumble that hurt Sokka's chest. A quiet sob escaped Katara, but otherwise she kept her composure all the way to Tho's boat. It was a long, canoe shaped craft with an awning and crude sail. Tho said it was built to be a river boat, but it had made voyages through the Fire Nation archipelago before. While large, the sitting area, which including space for their supplies, was not much bigger than Appa's saddle had been.

The boat floated in a small estuary and Tho used his bending to move it quickly out to sea, where he unfurled the sail and let the wind do its work.

"How long is this little voyage going to be?" asked Azula.

"'Bout two days."

"Two days? It would take a cruiser a week to get from here to the capital."

"We ain't going to the capital," Tho said. "Least I ain't. I'm gonna drop you off at an island I know where fishing boats come and go. You can hitch a ride further in from there. What you gotta do to earn it isn't my problem, but if you ain't afraid to let on that you got waterbenders you'll be hard pressed to find a Fire fisherman who won't take ya somewhere in exchange for a little help."

As the boat picked up speed and the salt spray misted them, Azula's lips pursed in the manner they did when she was thinking.

"Fishermen, you say? It would seem, then, that relations between my people and yours have repaired themselves somewhat since the war ended," she said.

Tho shrugged. "I used to come out here all the time and make a little money with my bendin'," he said. "It's a young man's trade. Dangerous, but you could make enough to buy something nice in one of the Earth Kingdom villages up north, or even Omashu if you was real ambitious. Maybe tryin' to impress a lady with a fancy bit of jewelry, you get me? Money ain't what it used to be, though, course now there ain't no danger in coming out this far for us waterbenders."

Azula looked as though she was uncertain about how to feel over this news that waterbenders had been mingling with people of the Fire Nation for so long.

Sokka watched her carefully, a dark mood having overcome him, one he could see reflected many times over in his sister. Nekka was oblivious to them, waving her hand over the water and causing disturbances with her limited bending ability.

"Well," Azula said, noticing she was being watched. "That's interesting. And good. For us." She smiled at Sokka, who smiled back. "I must say, I am already missing that bison. I think I rather enjoy flying, all things considered."

"We've had some bad experiences with flying," said Sokka to benefit Nekka and Tho, neither of which seemed to care. "Well," he said, clapping hands together. "Two days, huh? I spy with my little..."

Azula's groan and Katara's sharp "No" made him decide to pass the time with meditation, and hope it would finally allow him to have a meaningful conversation with the Old One in his mind.

-888-

By the middle of the second day Sokka wished a flock of star-spawn would descend on them so he could take a break from keeping the peace between his girlfriend and his sister. Azula's attempts at small talk all seemed innocent enough, but after a while Sokka saw each comment had been carefully crafted to draw a certain response from Katara, which fed the fire until he stamped it out.

After one exchange, sometime in the afternoon of their first day at sea, the Old One spoke.

-You've agreed with your mate each time. This is by her design.-

-Whoa, what? What!?-

Azula seemed to be able to tell when he was having a conversation with himself, and so he stopped haranguing the Old One, and while it did not speak again, he realized it had been completely right. Why it was giving him advice on women and not its Cthulhu-banishing machine, he could not fathom.

Their first night at sea he tried to get Nekka to talk more by asking her what she thought of the giant worm that attacked Wan Shi Tong's library.

She shook her head and played with a strand of her long, white hair. "Al-Hazred wrote about creatures he called 'dholes' that he said were giant worms, hundreds of feet long and tunneled through dark places in the so-called Dreamlands." She shrugged. "I would hope there's only the one."

-You should not ask her idle questions,- the Old One had said.

-Hey, that's good to know. Maybe you could tell me the easiest way to your secret club house under the sea so I can ask your friends how to get rid of Cthulhu? Or maybe you could just tell me? How about you just explain why you guys can't do it yourselves?-

He got no response, but did feel like something was standing behind him even though he sat against the boat's gunwale.

And so passed two of the longest days of Sokka's life that he could recall, and on the morning of the third day, for Tho had misjudged the sea winds, an island was sighted.

The boat turned toward a long, gray sandbar, behind which grew a grove of fruit trees that sagged with illness. Past the grove, Tho said, they would find a small village where there was bound to be a fisherman who would take them close to the Fire Nation capital.

Tho used his bending to get them onto the sandbar where they quickly disembarked with their supplies. He was off again with little more than a wave and a respectful grunt.

"Are you sure the bison will be safe?" asked Azula. "They blame us for what happened, regardless of what they say."

"They blame you, maybe," said Katara.

"No, she's...wrong. You're both wrong," said Sokka. "They don't blame us, and Appa will be fine with Huu. We can't worry about it right now anyway."

"We can and I will," said Katara. "Now, are we getting into these stupid disguises yet or are we waiting?"

"Now. If wanted posters were up as far as the Earth Kingdom we can expect them here," he said, undoing the belt around his tunic. The women made their way down the sandbar, towards the grove. He changed into his Earth Kingdom clothes, which were a little big for him, and waited a moment before following his companions. He did not fail to note that the bulk of the supplies had been left for him to carry.

Nekka looked the least like her old self. With her white hair, shawl, and green veil she looked every bit a decrepit old woman. The only thing that gave her away was her slender, wrinkle free hands which she kept tucked in her long sleeves.

Katara had done her hair up in a bun and slid chopsticks through it. Coupled with her kimono, she would be hard to recognize.

It was Azula he worried about the most. She had braided her lengthy black hair and slung it around her shoulder. Her kimono was similar to Katara's and predominantly yellow with green trim. She looked like a peasant and nothing like "Earth Queen Azula," but her face would be difficult to hide, as it was her most striking feature.

"Maybe you should wear this beard instead," he said, holding up a clump of sky bison fur.

"But Sokka, dear, then how would we ever disguise your face? Surely not by hideously disfiguring it?" she responded with a smile.

"That's not a bad idea," said Katara, opening their bag of medical supplies.

"Hey!"

"Azula, would you please have a seat for me?" Katara asked, her voice flat.

Azula saw what she was up to and with some reluctance sat down on a rock and let Katara bandage her face, wrapping the chin, nose, forehead and cheeks. "There, you're a clumsy young firebender who let things get a little too hot," said Katara, admiring her work.

Sokka nodded, stroking the false beard that now hung from his chin. "And we all know the Fire Nation capital is where they keep the good burn ointment," Sokka said, deepening his voice. "Only the best for my new bride."

His new bride had her murderous expression concealed by bandages, but she knew the disguise was a good idea and so rose to her feet with dignity. Striking a royal posture, she started off through the forest. "Surely my strong, young husband wouldn't make his wounded bride carry any luggage," she said.

"Or his grandmother," said Nekka, however she did carry the Necronomicon wrapped in its cloth.

"It'll be worth it when those bandages have to come off," whispered Katara. "They're the sticky kind."

He smiled, happy his false beard hung from his ears and was not glued to his face.

The trees in the grove were no less gray and droopy up close than they had looked from afar. None were dead, but their branches hung like fingers, trailing over the heads and shoulders of the small group that passed between them. Deeper in, the undergrowth of vines and brambles had grown in a way that seemed deliberate in how it slowed them down. Azula wanted to burn a path, but Sokka prevailed and hacked away with his boomerang, taking them abruptly to a narrow wagon road bearing aged wheel ruts.

The path led up a knoll overlooking the village Tho said they would find.

It was larger than they imagined. It grew along the shoreline like a crust, the sagging, gray houses becoming more dispersed the farther inland they went. There was an open area where a well sat covered by a pavilion.

A few hand carts were parked in the streets, but there were no ostrich horses in sight. From their vantage point they could see only a few people. Some sat on porches or on stoops, listless and idle. Sokka squinted and thought he could see a few boats out beyond a flat rock, perhaps a mile out to sea.

"Eh, I've seen creepier villages," said Sokka, starting down the hill.

"Where?" asked Katara.

"In my dreams," he said, quietly, getting a laugh from Azula.

The first person they encountered was a young waif of girl whose large, amber eyes seemed too big for her head, and who looked at the newcomers as if they were a species of talking fish. Sokka waved to her, sending her into a waddle-footed run.

The second person they met was an old woman who in her shriveled old age and long, dull red shawl reminded Sokka of a frightened seabird.

"Hi, there," Sokka said. The woman turned in his direction but did not look up. "We, uh, need to hire a boat that will take us as close to the capital as possible. Do you know anyone who might be interested?"

The woman extended her hand towards the shore, her sleeve slipping enough to show her skin was mottled and gray. He noticed the length of her fingernails the same time he detected her odor, and thanked her quickly before moving away with his companions.

They stopped near the well and saw the village was as dead and diseased as it had looked from the knoll.

"This place certainly has seen better days," said Katara.

"No doubt Zuko's bleeding-heart economic policies are to blame," said Azula. "He should take our father's advice on such matters more than he does."

"Your father thought maintaining a 100-year long war was good for the economy, so maybe Zuko shouldn't bother," said Katara.

"Nonsense. Wars are good for business, provided you're on the winning team," said Azula.

"Can you hear what she's saying?" Katara asked Sokka, who now that he was no longer trapped with them on a boat thought he might be able to ignore their constant bickering.

"A lot of crazy talk given who you're all supposed to be pretending you're not. Come on now, practice getting into character now for when it counts," he said.

Katara glared at him in such a way that told him they would be talking later. At least he hoped so. Silence was for when she was truly angry.

"I suppose it's all well and good these people are poor wretches," said Azula. "It means a boat will be cheaper."

"What? It's true," Sokka mouthed to his sister as she shook her head.

They went to the shore where the small docks and jetties that stuck out over the water vied for living space and appeared to be both the oldest and best kept part of the village. There were no boats, but the ropes, nets, and fish stench all told Sokka there would be later once they came back in from fishing, likely around evening, which meant at least one night would be spent in this village, a prospect none of them looked forward to despite having been at sea for days.

"Let's look for a hotel or a hostel or something," said Sokka. "Maybe just someone willing to put us up for the night. Azula, come with me, Katara, you can go with Nekka."

When they had separated, Azula removed her bandages, wincing as they pulled at her face, leaving red blotches. "None of these backwater degenerates are going to know who I am and even if they did there's no one for them to tell," she said, burning the bandages up in her hand.

"I haven't seen any wanted posters, so that's a good sign," said Sokka. "The Fire Nation doesn't have any leper colonies, does it?"

"I don't care if these people are lepers or not, I'd rather deal with them than that sister of yours. She's insufferable. I thought we had come to an understanding."

"Just stop reminding her that you were once an evil princess trying to kill her and her boyfriend and I'm sure she'll come around," Sokka said.

He sensed her stiffen against him which made his muscles and bones weary. There were few people on the street who looked as if they would yield better conversation than the first old woman. The only ones who did not seem like lepers were the children who behaved like rat pigeons, scampering off when he got close or if he looked in their direction for too long.

"I don't like these people," Azula said after they had walked through much of their half of the town and seen nothing but sagging homes built from graying wood and thatch that had turned black with rot.

"Ugh. Give it a rest. Look, you can't just go around looking down on everybody, okay? You..."

She smacked him in the arm. "Enough of that. Your swamp friends were one thing, but you can't deny there's something off about this bunch."

Sokka could only spot a handful of people, mostly children, who were watching him like tiny birds expecting a corpse. The elderly, for he saw no young men or women, were like the first he had seen, bent and wearing thick scarves or shawls. There had been more people out when they were looking down on the village from the knoll, of that he had been sure.

"Yeah, they're weird," he said, shuffling his feet. "Let's go back to the well. Katara is good at talking to people, maybe she's made some progress."

"And if she hasn't we can always take what we need."

"See, that's the kind of thing that makes you hard to be around. You can't just take people's stuff, even if they are weirdos."

"I'm well aware of that," she said, making him brace for a punch to the arm that never came. "But the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Would you sacrifice the entire planet because some backwater degenerate wouldn't lend you the use of a boat?"

He frowned, his anger starting to simmer, but he caught the playful smile in her eyes.

"I'll tell you what, if Cthulhu's one weakness turns out to be getting hit by a boat, I'll help you nab two of them," he said. "For now, keep your stealing energy reserved for the submarine we're probably going to have to swipe from under the navy's nose."

"Here's a thought," she said, as they entered the deserted town square, buffeted by a light breeze that carried the stink of fish and decay up from the docks. "I'm a princess of the Fire Nation, regardless of the imposter who may or may not still be sitting in my place. Now, if I were to defeat Zuko in an Agni Kai I would become the Fire Lord and we'd have all the submarines we wanted."

There was no sign of Katara or Nekka in the square when they stopped at the well to stand in the shade of the pavilion. His expression towards her was blank and tired. Azula held her smile and did not move, but he could feel her squirming under his stare. "I think we should stick to my plan of stealing a submarine," he said. "Your way could get messy."

"Of course," she said, nudging him with her shoulder as she drew close. "I was only joking. We'd have to deal with the rest of your friends, and I doubt the fake Zuko would even agree to an Agni Kai. Not if he knows what's good for him."

"Yeah," Sokka said, letting his hands hold her lightly while he kept an eye out for his sister and Nekka.

While the fish-smelling wind blowing between the rotting houses was far removed from the dry, papery halls of Wan Shi Tong's library, he felt like he was back there again, being watched by eyes he could not see. Azula felt it, too.

Sokka wanted to focus on the uneasy sensation and the problems at hand, but what Azula had suggested about overthrowing Zuko was like a stone in his boot. He was about to press her on the matter, to loosen the stone, but then the sound of a door being thrown open and a shriek that sounded like it belonged to Katara put him and Azula in motion.

His boomerang was out as were Azula's blue flames, but when they saw the scene in the street they quickly acted as if they had not been alarmed.

Katara and Nekka were in the street surrounded by a gaggle of children who had burst out of a house to surround them. They were somewhat like the children at the Foggy Bottom Swamp, but their tugging of clothes held the air of impatient scavengers eager to get to work.

A bent old woman came lumbering out of the house where the children had come from. She wore a shawl like the other elderly folk, and a scarf covered her face, leaving one, watery, yellow eye exposed. It fell first on the children where it glowered balefully, before fixing on the outsiders with panic.

Sokka came forward, seeking to calm the woman as Katara was too busy humoring the children while keeping herself and Nekka from being plucked.

"Ah, visitors," the woman croaked before Sokka could speak. Her panic had left her and her weeping eye was wide with curiosity. "I thought for a moment you were pirates."

"No, no, just weary travelers," said Sokka, straining to understand her watery voice. "We're headed to the capital and we want to hire a boat."

"No one here goes to the capital," the woman said. "Toshi is as far as anyone here will take you."

"Close enough," said Azula. "Are all the fishermen out to sea? When will they be back?"

"Not 'till nightfall," the woman said, and began to cough. When she could speak again, her voice was all the more garbled for it. "I happen to run the inn. I'm not there much; we don't get visitors like we used to in the old days."

She seemed to suddenly remember the children and began barking at them, shooing them away from Katara and Nekka. Some scurried back into the house while others silently made for the openings between and under buildings. "Sorry about that rabble, they get distracted from their chores easily. Come, come."

The inn was a large building at the edge of the town center. It was so run down Sokka had not thought it habitable when he first saw it, but the woman sloughed up the creaking steps and threw open the door with alarming energy and strength.

Inside, Sokka began to breathe through his mouth so he at least would not smell the mold spores and dust he was inhaling. The lobby was small, with a bar off to the side. The strange old woman searched about for a greasy oil lamp, which banished some of the gloom while she searched about for something behind the counter. It was a large, dusty log book which she let fall hard on the counter top. "You'll be wanting two rooms?"

Sokka felt his poor, abused coin purse and asked how much each would be. She told him, and when he asked how much a fisherman might want for a ride to Toshi the woman sighed. "I'll let you have the two rooms for the price of one, but only because we need the business," she gurgled.

Reluctantly, Sokka passed her the money and she took it with a gnarled, scaly hand.

He exchanged looks with Azula and the air in the room seemed to grow thicker as the woman scrawled in the log book. "Got names?"

"Ah, Wang...Rock. Wang Rock. This is my new wife, Mai Lee..."

"I'm his sister, June," said Katara. "This is..."

"Nekka," said Nekka, who was not wearing her shawl anymore and thus unable to pass for an old woman. "A cousin."

"Ah, just married, congratulations," said the crone. "Going to see your family in the Fire Nation, I expect?"

Azula nodded, her polite smile and tiny bow was most convincing. The old woman's eye narrowed as part of what could have been anything from a smile to a sneer hidden behind her scarf. She coughed and motioned for them to follow her. "I'll show you where your rooms are. The men won't be back until tonight like I said, and I'm sure you can find one who wants to make some money. Eh, you look like you're from one of the water bending tribes, am I right, dear?"

Nekka did not respond quickly, but nodded.

"Well, if you're short on money they won't mind you helping their fishing with a bit of bending. We used to get waterbenders from the Crow Swamp out here all the time."

"The Crow Swamp?" asked Sokka, recalling the name of the beast he and Azula had killed in the temple of Azathoth.

"Aye, or the Great Swamp. It's got a lot of names. It's west of here a ways, in the Earth Kingdom south of the dry lands, I think."

"You're very knowledgeable about the Earth Kingdom," said Azula as the woman started slowly up a flight of creaking stairs.

"Aye, aye. Soldiers used this place as a base when they couldn't avoid it," she said. "I think they meant to keep an eye on us, but either way they would talk and we would listen. We learned about the outside world from them."

She was halfway up the stairs when she stopped, having noted their confusion. "You didn't happen to see anyone else beside me and the children about town, did you?"

"We saw an older woman," said Sokka.

"Bet you've seen a resemblance then, eh? Aye, it's a terrible disease passed from bloodline to bloodline. It's not contagious, but try telling folks that. It hits us old ones hard, but it starts to show right about when a person stops being a child. It takes the men sooner than us women, which some think it a mercy."

"That's terrible," said Katara. "There's nothing healers can do?"

"No, no. I forget who said it, but it's because the condition is passed in the blood it can't be cured. It's part of us, like your hair color."

At the top of the stairs was a long hallway with an uneven floor. The two rooms they were shown were next to one another, and each was as sparse as could be. They all breathed sighs of relief when they saw that, while musty and dust coated, the rooms were not filthy. The windows overlooking the square had no glass and were covered by straw screens.

"Driest rooms in the place," the old woman said. "Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable around here, help yourselves to whatever you need, and go on about town if you like, just don't expect much excitement or conversation."

She shuffled down the hall to the stairs and the four remained silent until they heard the front door of the inn open and close. They soon discovered much of the foul air had been coming from her, and moved some of the screens to air out the building's natural funk.

"This is beyond foul. You should have saved your money and made camp in the woods," said Azula.

"I don't think spending some money on these people is all that bad," said Katara, taking in one of the rooms and looking like she might secretly agree that the woods were a healthier place to stay.

Sokka's mouth drew into a hard line, the stuffiness of the room needling his temper. "Wait 'till we're in the capital if you want uncomfortable," he said.

"What are we going to do between now and when the fishermen return? I don't see myself standing in this room with all of you the entire time," said Azula.

"You could wander off somewhere," said Katara.

"She said we could make ourselves at home, so let's do that," Sokka said, forcing himself to be calm. "Let's get to know this building, then the town. No one's going to bother us in the daylight."

"You act like someone's going to bother us in the nighttime," said Katara.

"Please, you haven't noticed it? Are you that naive or do you simply feel it your obligation to be contrary to me?" asked Azula.

"Noticed what? Okay, yes, this place gave me the creeps at first but it's clear these people are just poor and sick. I'd be secretive and standoffish too if I got treated like them. And by my own county, no less."

"Okay, settle down you two," said Sokka, his patience at an end.

Katara blew past him without speaking and took the stairs with rapid steps. Nekka, after hesitating, slowly followed, leaving Sokka to rub his aching head while Azula avoided eye contact.

"Well?" she asked, after they heard the door below open and close twice.

"Well what?"

"If you want to say something, say it."

He mulled over calling her out on her word games and schemes, but an instinct deeper than his subconscious vetoed it without him being fully aware.

"Just do me a favor and try not to fight with my sister. It's great you two can get it together when it counts, but it's the downtime that's killing me here," he said, cringing.

She drew closer, making him fight the instinct to cower, and placed a sharp-nailed finger on his chest. "Listen here, you, I'm not the one who needs to change her attitude. I've been nothing but pleasant to her and she's the one looking for arguments because she can't let anything go."

He set his hand atop hers and caressed it before taking it in a gentle grip. "I'm not asking you to change, I'm just asking you to not fight her over dumb stuff. If we're going to be together..."

She yanked her hand away and took a step back to face out the window. "Don't talk like that," she snapped.

"Talk like what?"

Her face in the gloom was like a blue fire.

"Like we can be anything after this is over. I hate your sister and she hates me. You're going to have to make a choice at some point, and we both know you won't choose me."

Azula's anger touched something in his chest and made it boil like a hot steel rod shoved into a pot of water. He spoke through clenched teeth. "Oh yeah? Well, maybe I'd like to just wait and see who asks me to make that choice, because anyone who loved me wouldn't."

It seemed to Sokka that even the dust motes stopped in mid-air as the moment stretched on.

"That's a dangerous word, Sokka," she said, her eyes blazing and unreadable. "Don't be careless with it."

"I'm not careless with anything like that," he said, slowly moving his hands to her waist, which moved to meet them. "And you're telling me that after all we've done to beat an ancient space monster you can't keep from arguing with my sister?"

She rolled her eyes and let herself be pulled into his embrace while her own hands went around his shoulders. "Oh, fine," she whispered. "But I won't suffer insults."

"I'm not asking you to be a doormat, just be the bigger person. I've got your back, remember?"

She nodded into his shoulder and nuzzled his neck before bringing her eyes directly in front of his. "I suppose I was goading your sister a little bit too much. I get bored easily." She smiled sheepishly. "And I wasn't joking before, when I said I could overthrow Zuko and make things easier on us. I won't, but I think it's an option."

For a moment he did not know how to take what she had said, but then realized he was likely one of the few people in the world she would be so open with about her schemes. His lips met hers.

"Maybe we should explore this place a little better, so we know where everything is if things go bad," he said, his eyes and hands making his message clear.

"Good idea. I want to find a weapon I can use in close quarters so I'm not forced to burn the place down," she said, understanding him perfectly.

"Maybe there's a kitchen," he said, following her eagerly down the stairs.

-888-

The gloom inside the inn deepened as the day drew to a close. Sokka went with Katara down to the docks, telling her they might need a display of waterbending to secure their ride. He had decided their disguises would have to come into play later.

On their way he cleared his throat and slowed his walk, taking note of her impatience. "I was hoping you could do me a favor?" he asked.

"Is it, 'be nice to Azula?' because the answer is no," she said, and kept walking so he was forced to catch up.

"I talked to her and got her to agree not to start anything, so I was just going to ask you to do the same," he said.

"I haven't started anything," Katara said. "She's the one who says awful things. Why you defend her when she says them is beyond me."

"Katara, stop. No, I mean, hold on." She stopped walking and turned to face him as if he had challenged her to a duel. He held up his palms and stepped closer to her. "All I'm asking you to do is be the bigger person when she can't be. I know you're going through a lot now, but..."

"Sokka," her words caught in her mouth, and she shook her head while storming down the street, forcing him to jog to catch her. When he grabbed her arm, lightly, she spun and planted her hand firmly on his chest. "Fine, you want to have it out? Open your ears and listen. The man I love, your best friend, got kidnapped and rather than tell me everything you knew, you ran off with one of our worst enemies and left me in the dark! And ever since you happened to find me, you've done nothing but take her side with everything. It's like your shoving it in my face constantly."

She caught herself, and covered her face for a moment before it all came spilling out in tears. When she looked at him, her eyes were ice in the gloom and she was moving again. Sokka followed her past the gray houses, now black in the fading light, and tried not to think about the people looking at them through the windows.

"You're right," he said, running to catch up again. He spoke slowly, thinking about his words like puzzle pieces. "I screwed up pretty bad and I want to make it right again."

She said nothing, her arms around her to ward of the slight chill that had come with the rainy weather. "Can you tell me one thing?" he asked.

"What?"

"Are we still okay? I know you're mad at me, but this feels different and I don't like it."

She stopped to take in a deep breath. When Katara turned, her blue eyes were downcast. "We're okay. We'll always be okay, it's just..."

He hugged her, and felt her return the embrace immediately. "We're going to get Aang back, I promise," he said. "We're going to save everyone else, too. Everything I've done, as messed up as it was, I did for them. I haven't forgotten about them, Katara, it's just I'd go crazy if I let myself worry, you know?"

She nodded, and he hugged her tighter. "I just want to know he's safe, that those things haven't hurt him," Katara said. "What if they find out how to break the Avatar cycle? Sokka, they caused that tsunami without a second thought and Azula said they might have manipulated the Fire Nation into doing what they did to the Air Nomads."

"Yeah, I mean to have a word with them about that," Sokka said, failing to mention that he might wait until they had helped before bringing it up.

They moved on in silence, walking close to each other as they had always done with Sokka feeling like all was right with at least a small part of the world.

Before they got close enough to the docks for the smell to hit, out from an alley shuffled an old woman dressed in filthy rags with her head wrapped in a scarf and shawl.

"Aye, there you are," her watery voice familiar as the woman who ran the hotel. "Pono came back early. That's my nephew, a fisherman. He'd be more than happy to take you as far as Toshi, and for cheap, too, if you wouldn't mind using your bending to get him a few red crane fish that swim those waters. They're a bit of a delicacy, you know."

"Oh, okay," said Katara, bowing. "We thank you, and we'll meet Pono at the docks tomorrow morning?"

"Aye, aye," said the woman. "He'll call out to you, he's very excited. But tired, oh so tired, so he's gone right off to bed."

Sokka rubbed the back of his neck and turned to see no one was behind them. Around him the bent houses absorbed shadows like porous sponges. "We're pretty tired, too," he said, yawning loudly, realizing he was no longer wearing his fake beard. "We'll probably all get right to sleep when we get back."

-Maybe she'll think I shaved. Man, this was dumb,- he thought.

"Do you have everything you need over there? I could fix you all some dinner. Price is included in the rooms," she said.

"No, no, we already ate actually," Sokka said.

"Oh, but you should have at least a taste of the stew I make," the woman said, shuffling towards them as if to go to the hotel.

"Aaactually, we're pretty stuffed," he said, taking Katara by the arm and making haste to keep ahead of the woman who finally seemed to relent and sunk back into the town while muttering something.

"Well, that was rude," Katara said.

"I know Azula can be stuck up, but she's right about this town, something fishy is going on and there's no way I'm eating anything I didn't cook myself," he said.

They were in the town square where it was lighter and he could see that, rather than be offended, Katara agreed with him even if she was reluctant to voice it.

"We've been acting pretty suspicious ourselves, maybe they're just nervous about us," she said.

"When I said this place was fishy, that wasn't entirely a figure of speech," he said. "If I could find someone a little younger and not wrapped up in rags I'd know for sure, but I don't think it's going to matter soon. Just make sure you have some water ready to bend and remember the way to the docks. I have a feeling we'll be leaving here on a fishing boat tonight."

"Sokka..."

"If I'm wrong, no harm done," he said. "We'll know in a few hours."

When he told Azula about how their trip into town went, she twirled the kitchen knife she had found and sunk it into the table that stood beneath the window.

"Some of us should sleep," she said.

"Okay, I'm getting mad. What are you two worried about happening?" asked Katara.

"Something tells me that if we got a good look at those fishermen we might have a hard time telling them apart from their catch," said Azula.

"You think they're with that weird cult? The people with the, whatever you called it, the Outer-Maw look?"

"I'm pretty sure this is Outer-Maw," said Azula, plucking the blade from the table. "I should have known straight away. And your little swamp friend probably knew, too. A little payback for what happened to his village, no doubt."

"That sounds like a bit of a stretch," Katara said. "So, we're in danger. What's the plan, wait until they attack then run for a boat?"

They all looked to Sokka, who felt a swell of satisfaction despite his sister having laid out his exact strategy. "Just what you said, Katara, that's a great idea. We've got two of the most powerful benders in the world right here, it should be no sweat."

A creak from the stairs gave them all a start, and Sokka went to the door where he listened. With his hand, he motioned for Katara and Nekka to go to the other room. He waited patiently by the door while Azula pretended to be relaxing, her knife out of sight. Sokka opened the door at the old woman's knock.

"Oh, hey," he said. "Is everything alright? Like I said, we just ate."

"I just came to make double sure everything was alright. We get so few visitors I'm afraid my hospitality skills are rusted out, "she said, her sloshing voice making Sokka's stomach churn.

"Everything's great," Sokka said, yawning. "The wife and I were getting ready for bed. We both like to turn in early." He gave a lecherous wink which made the old woman chuckle and his stomach roil a little more.

"Ah, to be young again," she said. "Well, good night and we'll see you in the morning bright and early by the docks."

She left slowly, and when she was gone they Katara in the hall while Nekka sat in another room, looking at the cover of the Necronomicon as though reading it through its cloth wrapping.

"She was checking to make sure we were here," said Sokka.

"We should go now, before they're ready," said Azula.

"That was my first thought, but I have a feeling that when they come they'll all come here at once. All we'll have to do is break past them and our way to the boats will be clear. If we go early, the fight will be by the docks, which we don't want."

Azula grinned and glanced out the window. "Good point, because when I strike, I'm making sure I burn as much of this wretched place as I can before leaving."

Katara coughed loudly. "Let's not forget the children we saw today. How about keeping the carnage to a minimum?"

"Those weren't children, those were fish-spawn," said Azula. "Isn't that right, Nekka?"

The scholar's eyes darted between them as though she had been accused of something. She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the Necronomicon. "If this is indeed a Deep One colony, then yes, that would be correct."

"Fish people or not, they're still kids, so only burn what you have to," Sokka said, and kept talking to override anymore arguing. "Let's make sure our supplies are ready. Once we're on a boat, Katara can waterbend us right on out of there. I'll take watch, you three get some sleep if you can."

Azula went to her and Sokka's room where she laid down in the center of the bed mat, while Katara and Nekka went to their own room. Sokka almost objected, wanting them all in one place, but decided they were close enough. He sat by the window in his room with the screen cracked open, watching the shadows swallow the last bit of sunlight. There was a lamp on a table, but he left it dark, wanting his night vision to be keen when the time came.

Night crept up rapidly. Sokka watched Azula as she lay still with her eyes closed. After a while she sat up and undid her braid in favor of tying it all behind her head in a messy bunch.

"You're crazy if you think any of us are going to sleep," she said. "Come and sit with me."

"I have to watch the window."

She got up and stood next to him, pressing her body into his. Her head resting on his shoulder, they watched the still darkness of the square.

The overcast skies blocked any light from the stars or moon, and the brightest thing Sokka could see was Azula's pale skin. He let his eyelids droop, trusting his ears to detect danger and his brain to spot flaws in his plan. What if they planned on waiting until morning to attack? What if they had some nasty trick he could not foresee? There was no way off the island besides a boat, and not for the first time since leaving the swamp he doubted the wisdom of leaving Appa behind.

He pulled Azula close to him to feel the raw comfort of her presence, knowing she was a terror in battle and that his sister was no slouch either. -It'll be over if we get to the docks where she can bend the water,- he thought. -All I gotta do is protect them and Nekka.-

Sokka's hand was on Azula's hip, the contours of their bodies found the places where they fit together best.

-You're not paying attention.-

He opened his eyes to see movement in the town square, near the well pavilion. Azula felt him move and picked her head up from his shoulder.

"Here they come," she hissed.

Sokka had been expecting perhaps a dozen or more men, but what he saw moving around outside was well over thrice that, and not all walked with the gait of a man. They seemed to swim through the blackness with plodding grace, their elongated bodies having been formed for the water.

He met Katara and Nekka in the hallway. All had their rucksacks. "Did you see them?" Katara asked. "What are they?"

"People who have Gone Deep," said Nekka.

"Looks like it's a fish fry, then," Azula said, smiling.

Sokka's boomerang was out and he opened the window. "When they come to the door, we go out the window. Katara."

Katara used her bending water and the water from a bucket they had drawn up before to coat her arms in thick globules ready for combat. They all stepped back from the window, and as soon as heavy, running footsteps were heard on the stairs leading up to them, Katara lashed out with the water, blowing out the rotted wall which slid down an awning to the ground outside. Katara grabbed Nekka and jumped out after it, her bending taking them gently to the ground. Azula was next, stabbing her kitchen knife into the awning, slowing her fall. Sokka tried the same trick with his boomerang and landed hard on his rear.

Their way to the square was mostly clear, but the massive rush into the hotel was not without stragglers. Most were humanoid, but some were elongated fish bodies that sat upon legs better designed to be tucked under the tail as the body swam. These beings had thin arms and claws, wide mouths, and circular, watery eyes the size of fists.

Azula proved to be as destructive as predicted, dousing fish men and fishy-looking men alike in bright blue flames. Those who had entered the inn had realized their prey had escaped and were pouring out by the dozens. Most of these were full fish monsters, and it was here Azula made use of her lightning, which had a longer reach than her flames. For every one enemy the lightning bolt felled, it sent another running in blind fear.

While Katara did not have enough water to harm large swaths of enemies, her value to the battle became immediately apparent when waterbending was used against them. Twice Sokka felt his legs ensnared in ice, which Katara melted and used to increase her bending presence in the fray.

Sokka ducked an orange fireball and watched it set a door on fire. "Firebenders!" he shouted. Not having thought of this, he began to feel tight in his stomach.

Azula turned and sent a streak of lightning into an alleyway where she thought the fire had come from. The alley exploded, catching the houses on fire.

His boomerang stayed in his fist and he swung it at creatures that got close to Nekka, but most of his fighting was done to keep himself from being grabbed or ensnared in one of the nets the Deep Ones had brought to the fight.

Sokka could see what was happening as fire, water, and now harpoons sailed through the air. "Katara! Clear our way! Azula, keep them off our backs! Nekka, watch the alleys!"

Katara, now with more water from defeated waterbenders, was like a flushing rain to the stragglers who tried to bar their way. Azula, meanwhile, created wall after wall of fire in the wide street leading to the docks, and delighted in sending lightning bolts through the flames to strike whoever they may.

The idea that Nekka could defend herself even slightly had to be scrapped by Sokka, who now stuck close enough to her that he nearly dragged her. Their momentum came to stop when the Nekka was caught in a net. Sokka's boomerang broke the arm of the thrower, buying him time to lift the net from Nekka before she became tangled.

They were moving again, and Katara's waterbending was doing its work well. He only had to fight a handful of opponents who darted past her water whips. The fish monsters, while strong and horrifying to behold were mortal enough, and unlike the star-spawn, Sokka knew exactly where to strike them for a mortal blow.

At the docks, a plethora of boats had been tied up, each as well kept as the village was rundown and worn. Sokka wished he had more time to make a selection, but now that they were out of the narrow street, the Deep Ones efforts to flank them were proving more effective. Shoving Nekka towards the nearest craft, he shouted for Katara to make ready with her bending and force them out to sea.

The boat was larger than Tho's by half, and had a sturdy canopy. Nekka was the first aboard, Sokka the second.

"Hurry!" he shouted as water and blue flame continued to crash into monstrous bodies.

"They'll chase us!" Katara shouted, widening her stance and moving her arms in large, swirling motions.

A great wave rose up from the sea, making Sokka shout in surprise and fear. It parted in the middle just in time to miss them and come down on those who crowded the docks with tremendous force. Those who still looked human were swept back, while the fish men leaped into the wave, their narrow bodies piercing the wall of water like spears.

"Hit them again!" Azula shouted.

She blew a swath of fire at the remaining monsters who charged, giving Katara time to summon another wave. As it crashed down, Azula quickly spun her arms to create a lightning bolt which she threw into the water. Sokka saw the white, crackling arc travel through the fish creatures, knocking the life from them. Sokka thought it a miracle they had not been electrocuted themselves as he cut the ropes that held the boat in place.

Katara's waterbending drove them out to sea on a powerful wave while Azula hurled fire balls and lightning blasts at the docks to keep them from being pursued.

When they were several hundred yards out, Katara stopped and sunk to her knees, exhausted. They were all worn out, but Sokka was eager to get the boat's sail up to continue putting distance between them and the village. He watched the black water for any sign of movement and listened for even the slightest sloshing of water, but all there was to hear was the lapping of waves against the boat's gunwales.

Once the sail was up Sokka used the flames from the village to gauge their position, then headed west. He would not know where they were or where they were going until at least the morning when he could consult their map or happen across a populated island, but as long as they were not attacked he did not fear becoming lost for too long in the Fire Nation archipelago. With their course fixed, he sat down and got the medical bag out to assist Katara with any wounds incurred. Sokka himself had escaped uninjured, as had Nekka, but Azula's arm was bleeding from a puncture wound either from an ice spike or harpoon.

"I gotta say, ladies, that electric wave was pretty awesome," he said, as he cleaned the blood from Azula's arm so Katara could bandage and put some healing water to it.

"Good thing Azula thought of it," Katara said.

"If you were less skilled, we would have all been electrocuted," said Azula. "And they continue to underestimate us. With any luck they'll get brave and try for us in the open water." A spark jumped between her fingertips, momentarily casting them all in white-blue light.

"I wouldn't expect to be underestimated again," said Nekka. "The Deep Ones and the star-spawn serve Cthulhu, but they have little to do with each other. They may be competing to please their master."

"Each one has had at least two turns at us, they should have learned by now we're not to be trifled with," said Azula.

Sokka wanted to agree, to keep their good mood up, but all he could manage was a happy sounding grunt. -We don't have Appa. That'll slow us down, force us into places where we can be hit hard.- His next grunt was one of frustration.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"Nothing, it's just that these Outer-Maw people have contacts in the Fire Nation. Remember the two guys who tried to kill me and Appa? I'm thinking sneaking around there just got a whole lot harder."

"It was going to be tough anyway," said Katara. "Maybe we should rethink our plan?"

"I think we should go back to the swamp and get the sky bison," said Azula. "We could have avoided this disaster completely had we done so in the first place."

Sokka was too tired to feel the proper level of frustration he thought he should be experiencing, but the sight of his sister healing Azula and somewhat agreeing with her was a refreshing novelty, even if they were against him. He let them talk, each cautiously bolstering the others points as they came precariously close to convincing him they were right.

They had come to the end of their argument, leaving him convinced but not ready to say so. The silence between them was filled by a steady, cool sea breeze that billowed the sail and pushed the boat easily over the gentle waves.

"Okay, let's..."

Suddenly he felt his stomach flip as some great force made the boat rise vertically at a tremendous speed. He grabbed the nearest thing he could, which was the boom, and was swung over the side of the boat as it toppled off whatever had raised them into the air. He found himself falling from a great height, and with water rushing all around him all he could hear was screams.


	18. Conqueror Worm

Sokka's pruned hands stung whenever he closed them into fists, which was often as they had been cramping since morning and he kept having to adjust his grip on the floating piece of wood he clung to.

The island of Outer-Maw was gone, but he would have been glad to spy it on the horizon even it meant being captured by the Deep Ones. His boomerang was tucked into his belt and he thought it a miracle he had not lost it. It was cold comfort, however, for he had seen no sign of his sister, Azula, or Nekka, nor could he see any pieces of their destroyed boat besides the one he stuck to like a barnacle.

As he bobbed in the water he tried to remember what had happened the night before. Had it been some feat of waterbending? That was likely, but then that meant the bender had outdone his sister and from what he had seen of the Deep One cult, waterbending was paradoxically not something they excelled at. His mind could also not let go of certain images, certain impressions of an enormous, thrashing shape. A whale, perhaps, but he knew they preferred more southerly waters this time of year.

Or did they? He had been living a different sort of life for a long time now, one that took little note of whale roads. Perhaps the sea was angry with him for some slight he did not remember giving. -Maybe it's mad I abandoned it, too,- he thought.

The sun's light became long, wavering lines beneath the still water, fading from green to black. He was tempted to begin paddling, but without any sense of what direction land was in he thought it best to stay rested until a goal was in sight.

Sokka passed the time by trying to make contact with the Old One. It was a dull process akin to trying to sleep when not tired, but when the sun was high above and fatigue upon him, he heard something speak in his own, inner voice. -Look, there.-

His eyes had glazed over like that of of a dead fish, seeing nothing, but now that he was alert he saw a tiny speck floating some distance out between the folds of shimmering water. He paddled with his arms and kicked with his feet for a long time before stopping to rest. When he saw the spot was splashing toward him, he kicked harder.

It was Azula.

She clung to part of the ship's mast which was narrower and less buoyant than the planks he had found. Her paddling was weak, and she had shed her tunic to be free of its soggy weight. When she reached him, she clung to his body and touched him all over.

"You're alive" she said, water sputtering from her lips as they bobbed.

"I'm Water Tribe, I naturally float," he said. "Any sign of the others?"

"No. That monster scattered us and we drifted apart during the night."

"So it was a monster."

"Of course it was a monster. I haven't seen any sign of it, either. What do we do now, sit here and bob like melon apples?"

"Can you use your bending to move us like you did in the swamp?"

After much splashing and dips underwater, Azula floated on her back, clinging to Sokka so her head was easily kept above water. "The water isn't a great place to firebend," she said.

"Who'd have known? Keep an eye out for bigger pieces of driftwood, then. I guess we're floating until we see something."

"I'm thirsty."

"So am I," he said.

"I'm growing weary of almost dying with you," she said, turning so she could tread water and cling to him. He bobbed, but the planks held them both above the low waves.

"Eh, seems like we're getting the hang of it," he said, his arm finding her bare waist and pulling her tighter to him.

The rainclouds from the previous days were a distant memory and the sun pressed down on them as if making up for the lost time. Their strength ebbed by the hour, their reunion only having accelerated the process that had started the night before when they were thrown into the water. Sokka was, by now, familiar with the sensation of slow death but by no means used to it. Again he found himself hoping for an attack from star-spawn, or better yet a sharktopus, something to hasten the gruesome waiting.

-Better yet, how about Katara coming by in an ice boat, or maybe Appa? Yeah, happy thoughts, Sokka, happy thoughts.-

"Hey," he said when the afternoon was closing in on evening.

"What?" Azula croaked, her voice thick from dehydration.

"I don't mean to be that guy or anything, but we're running out of time here," he said. "If we were close to shore, we'd have seen it by now. I just wanted you to know..."

"Ugh. Hold that thought, you sad little man," she muttered, and shifted her weight, causing them to slosh about. She sent a streak of blue fire into the sky that left a long tail like a comet before dispersing a few hundred feet above their heads. She did it again, and a third time before letting her hand fall back into the water with a weak splash.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Improving our odds of being spotted," she said, and sent up another streak of flame.

She did this once every half an hour, but finally let her hand flop into the water and rest as the sun began its downward descent. "I'll wait until it's dark," she said, throwing her arm over his back and falling into a stilted sleep.

He closed his eyes and got what little rest he could before the cold air of twilight roused them both. Her efforts to shoot flames into the air became labored and he did all he could to support her weight on their floating piece of wood.

"I didn't even get one," she muttered, after a particularly hard effort.

"Huh?"

"A night's sleep," she said. "Maybe one in that swamp, before we left, but...argh!" She fired another another bolt at the sky, and wilted against him. The night wore on and her flares came only when she had the energy for them.

The flares offered him enough hope to keep the creeping dread at bay, but now it was making up for lost ground. All he could hear was the sloshing of waves and the hiss of the wind. A seagull looking to eat them would have been a welcome sound for it would have meant land was somewhere close, but there was nothing of the sort. Waves and wind, water and air. Now he heard violin music, which made him pick his head up, but not for long. -Stupid brain,- he thought, thinking now would be a good time to say what he had to say to Azula, only he had forgotten the careful ordering of the words.

The waves sloshed, and the violin music stopped only to be replaced with the sound of a chugging steam engine. Sokka brought his head up and shook it. Yes, it was a steam engine he was hearing, the realization coursing through him like a bolt of lightning. He shook Azula awake.

"Hey, hey! Make with the fire, quick, there's a boat!"

Azula came to life and with an angry groan hurled up a streak of fire brighter and bluer than the few that had preceded it. She sent up another, then another, until Sokka stopped her, not wanting her to exhaust herself.

The ship's foghorn sounded, signaling it had seen the flares and so Azula waited until it was closer before sending up another. When they were satisfied the ship had seen them and was not drawing nearer by chance, they rested until they heard the splashing of a lifeboat. Fire Nation sailors pulled them aboard and draped them in blankets as the boat was hoisted onto the deck of the larger ship.

It was a small, colony class cruiser. Only a handful of men were on the deck and a lone healer had been sent to attend to them. They were given water and led below where the healer checked them for injuries.

With fresh water in her stomach Azula became animated. "What ship is this? Where's the captain? I demand to speak with him."

Sokka made no effort to calm her, for her knew that once their identities were learned they would be prisoners and their best bet now was likely some Azula-style diplomacy.

"The captain, yes...he'll see to you shortly, Princess Azula."

"I suppose there's no use in hiding it," she said, standing up straight in a regal posture, her wet hair like black seaweed around her shoulders. "I'll have you know the Fire Lord is an imposter in more ways than one, and..."

"Princess, please," said the healer. "The captain will be here shortly. There are dry clothes in each of your quarters."

"We're not being separated," she said, her hands coming aflame. The soldiers around them crouched into defensive stances, while the healer shielded his face. "P-p-please, princess, I..." He kneeled, and Sokka was about to step in when a man's voice boomed.

"Stand down, all of you. These two are not prisoners!"

It was Piandao, and Sokka thought his heart would stop when he saw him enter the room from the wide hallway.

They embraced then pulled apart to shake hands. Sokka stumbled over his words, unable to form a coherent sentence until Piandao's hand clapped his shoulder and he stopped talking.

"Relax, Sokka, you're safe here. We have a great deal of talking to do, but it can wait until you're rested and fed. How long were you drifting?"

"Since early last night," he said. "Our boat got smashed by a monster. Katara was with us, so was another girl."

Piandao frowned, his lined face showing great worry while being reassuring. "Your sister is a powerful waterbender, so it's highly unlikely she's been lost, Sokka."

"But, the Deep Ones..."

Piandao's face darkened. "We have a lot to talk about," he said. "Get dry, get nourished, get some rest and we'll speak again before sun-up, I promise."

"Show us to our room then," Azula said, her posture having become no less hostile despite her flames having gone out.

With only the slightest cock of an eyebrow Piandao made a formal bow, signaling the healer to come forward to show them the way to their room.

"Yeah, let's dry off and get a nap," said Sokka, seeking to make the air less charged. "Sifu Piandao, please keep searching for my sister and our friend?"

"Of course we will," he said, rising from his bow as the soldiers filed from the room.

-888-

The room they were given was small with a single bunk set against the wall, a dresser at its head. Azula was out as soon as her head hit the pillow, while Sokka stayed up long enough to make sure she was free of the dreadful nightmares that had plagued her. If Cthulhu or anything else haunted her slumber she did not show it, and he let himself go to sleep beside her.

Their room was furnished well for a military ship, and had his sister's whereabouts not been unknown, along with Nekka's, he might have slept more soundly. As it happened, his dreams were set to the tune of weird violin music while water was all around him. Something was moving fast through the stillness, chased by something large.

The dream left him with only vague impressions when he woke up and he had no time to try and reconstruct them, for Azula rose alongside him. The softness of her sleeping face had given way to a satisfied hardness, and he was pleased to see her slumber had brought some of the glow back to her face. The dark circles beneath her eyes were still there, but they had dimmed.

They got dressed together and went to find Piandao.

Before long they sat around a table in the captain's quarters which Piandao had claimed for his own. According to him, the ship was stolen, its sailors being old crewmen of his and people who had lived and worked in his castle.

He told them first what they already knew, that as soon as Zuko and the others returned, Iroh had been thrown in the asylum seemingly for going mad at the sight of his nephew, who he claimed was someone else. Others had been thrown in jail or made to vanish as well, mainly those who were too open about the oddities they noticed being displayed by the Fire Lord and those who had returned with him.

"Eventually they cooked up a story about a storm, and some strange lights, and feigned memory loss, but by then it was too late," Piandao said. "Or should I say, too late for those of us who could have done anything about it. The people close to the Fire Lord right now are new and probably have no idea there's something wrong.

"Is Suzi okay?" Sokka asked.

"She was playing her part well when I left," Piandao said. "Suzi is a sharp girl and did not break character, so it's possible, likely even, that the false Zuko believes in a false Princess Azula. I had hoped to use that to an advantage, but it seems Zuko and the others are fast learners and they caught on to my connection with you. I was half a step ahead, and here we are."

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," said Sokka. "We've been in way over our heads from the beginning."

"I'm even more pleased to have found you, Sokka. You can't imagine the confusion you created when you left."

Sokka hung his head and looked into the steaming tea cup that had been set before him. "I screwed up pretty bad, he said, and after getting a look of approval from Azula, he told Piandao their entire story from beginning to end, leaving out some of the personal details. By the time he was finished, his tea cup was nearly empty.

There was a long silence broken by Piandao leaning backward as if reeling under a burden. He let a slow breath out from his mouth and calmly surveyed Sokka's face.

"That's some story," he said, finally.

"It's the truth," Sokka said, setting his cup down hard. "I know it's the craziest thing anyone's ever said, but that's what happened. Ask my sister when we find her, ask Nekka. She might have that horrible book, still. Or we could just wait around long enough and one of Cthulhu's evil bugs will probably attacks us, or fish people, or something."

"Easy, easy, I believe you, I do," said Piandao. "It explains the Fire Lord's behavior, the Avatar's disappearance, and the creature that attacked you on the beach. It's in your mind, you say?"

"I guess so. I've been trying to make that work for me, but it's been tough. All it can tell me is stuff I already know or point out things I'm not noticing."

"Your mind is a sword sheath and it's a spear," Piandao said.

Sokka's brow furrowed as he imagined a spear being stuck into a sheath. "Ooh, yeah, I get it," he said.

Azula pushed her tea cup away, a move that commanded attention. "Now that the history lesson is over, the reason we were headed home in the first place was to obtain a submarine used in the failed invasion. I believe you had been instructed to secure one?"

"There's one in a dock warehouse north of Caldera City," he said. "I wouldn't say it's secured, though."

"Well, first thing's first, we need to find my sister. Nekka, too. And the Necronomicon. We're going to need it if the Old Ones don't want to play ball."

"We're still looking for Katara and your friend," said Piandao. "If we have to, we'll raid that village you were chased out of and see what we can learn, but I'm worried about staying in one place for very long. Our escape was narrow to say the least. I'm also not sure how to go about stealing the submarine you desire."

"One problem at a time," Sokka said, and nudged Azula. "Right?"

Azula nodded and let her arm brush against him. Piandao noticed, but made no remark about it before talking about where they had last seen another Fire Nation ship, and where they intended to search for the lost waterbenders.

-888-

The straw beneath her tricked Katara into thinking she was still in the cheap bed of the hotel. The attack Sokka expected had yet to come, might never come, and it was time to get up and see a man about a boat.

The delusion slipped away from her so gradually, she was not upset upon realizing that the running battle to the docks and their boat being destroyed had all been real. She was, however, puzzled in the extreme by her current surroundings.

She was on a ship, that much was all but certain. The straw-stuffed mattress was of far better quality than anything at the inn, but it was simple and not entirely comfortable. She had been dressed in a simple night gown, her clothes left by her bedside, dry. Putting them on, she noted the room was shaped like half an egg.

There were bandages and bruises on her body she could not account for, but nothing serious, and the healer that had seen to her appeared to have been a competent one. Professional, too, she hoped. Seeing no sign of Nekka, she went to the door and found it unlocked.

The hallway was lined with small, circular windows that showed her a wall of green water fading downward into pitch darkness. She looked upward as much as the windows would allow, and saw the green became lighter, fading into bright, clear gold.

"I'm under water," she said, softly, realizing it was a submarine she was on, but one in a completely different league from the sort they used to invade the Fire Nation years before.

For one, it was larger and built entirely of steel. The faint hum of an engine meant it was not powered by waterbending, and so she thought it must be of Fire Nation make. Something about the design made her doubt this.

Her skin of bending water had been left untouched, so she was either among friends or her captors did not know she was a bender.

The passageway she was in bent slightly inward. "Hello? Is anyone here?" She called out, moving along, past the windows looking into the sea.

She passed many rooms, living quarters apparently, on her short journey. Each contained a bed and some held chairs, but they were all under-furnished. Piles of clothes had been left upon the floor, neatly laid, as had food and eating utensils. The clothes, she noted, were patterned after Earth Kingdom sensibilities and were of heavy cloth, some even fur lined.

"Someone had better explain what's going on here pretty soon, or else..."

"Katara!" came a voice she had never thought to hear again. The young man came silently rolling down the corridor in a chair fixed with wheels.

"Teo!" she cried, running to him and clasping his forearms.

His dark brown hair had been left to grow and rested around his shoulder in a braid. Teo's mischievous young face was drawn out and careworn, but was still capable of flashing with the brightness she remembered.

"Sorry you woke up alone. I was watching over you, but there's so few of us here we have to pull triple duty on a lot of things."

Much of the spark left his features when he spoke, and Katara was caught off-guard by his sudden turn in mood. "Teo, what's happening? I was in a boat on my way to the Fire Nation, then something sunk our ship."

Biting his lip, he was reluctant to make eye contact with her. "A monster sunk your ship. It's been chasing us for a while now," he said.

It took some effort to keep multiple questions from blurting out at once. "Where are the others? Are they alright?"

"We only found you and the white-haired girl. You had encased yourself in an ice sphere, but I guess you got banged around inside it because you were unconscious and half frozen when we found you," said Teo. "The other girl is okay."

"Her name is Nekka," said Katara, rubbing her elbows. "We have to find my brother and the girl he was with. Did Nekka have a book with her?"

"Yeah," said Teo, slowly. "She woke up before you and we asked her what was going on, but she started telling us some crazy stuff. Well, I shouldn't say crazy. She seemed to know a lot about what chased us out of the air temple."

His countenance grew dark again, and Katara touched his shoulder. "She's not crazy. Not exactly. Is your father here? I'll tell you all everything."

"Yeah, he's on the bridge. He wanted to see you when you woke up, actually."

Katara followed Teo down the corridor in the direction she had been traveling. On the way, he told her how they had come to leave the temple and be in a submarine.

"I was out gliding when I see these things flying in from the south. I thought they were birds or wolf bats or something, but then they got closer and...I don't even know how to describe them. Monsters doesn't really cut it, you know?"

"I do," Katara said.

"I went to warn everyone, but they came in fast. They took a lot of us down."

"I'm sorry," she said, her hand on his shoulder once more.

"It got worse," he said, choking up. His wheelchair stopped in the middle of the corridor and Katara knelt by his side, her hands on his shoulder and arm. "We tried to fight them off, and for a while it looked like we might win, but then...but then..."

"Teo, it can wait. Don't..."

"No, I got this," he said, fighting back his sobs. He cleared his throat and his voice became even, like the hum of the distant engine. "They retreated, but then they came back carrying what we thought was a big blob of tar or something. But it wasn't tar. It was alive. We couldn't kill it, or even hurt it no matter what we did...we found out too late fire would have been the way to beat it, but I don't even know if..."

Teo shook his head and rolled faster. Katara tailed him, her grief mixing unpleasantly with her curiosity.

"You had to have seen it, Katara, but I hope you never will...it swallowed people up then called back at us with their voices, only it was all wrong, like a parrot or something. My father had built this submarine for exploration, but we had to use it to escape. Only a few of us made it. It was awful. That girl said it was called a shoggoth or something, but how does she know that?"

Katara related her own experience at the Northern Air Temple, which caused Teo to stop while she finished. "I know what happened was terrible, Teo, but you have no idea how much this submarine is going to help, we just need to find my brother and Azula."

"Azula? You mean that crazy Fire Nation princess?"

"It's a long story, and I can't wait to tell it to someone," she said, a grim smile on her face.

Teo's father, a man she only knew as the Mechanist, stood before a wall of gauges, dials, levers, ropes, and buttons. Around him were half a dozen people, each as engrossed as he was in tending to the equipment. The Mechanist turned, and without seeing his son or Katara, went to stand before a pole at the room's center. The pole was fixed with a pair of what looked like goggles that reminded Katara of the moving picture boxes that had become popular at festivals in recent months.

"Father," called Teo, getting the Mechanist's attention. He turned, his patchy eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh, she's awake! Teo, you were supposed to fetch me when she awoke."

"She got up when I went to check the ballast tanks," said Teo.

The Mechanist and Katara exchanged a short embrace. "How are they holding up?" he asked Teo.

"They're not getting worse," said Teo.

"We're lucky this machine works at all," said the Mechanist, turning his owlish face to Katara. "Everything had to be done in such a hurry, and we lost so many..."

"I'm so sorry for what happened," Katara said, and told him what she had said to Teo.

The Mechanist hung on her every word as if it were balm on a burn. "I think you can shed some light on a great many things for us," he said. "I spoke to your strange friend, but what little she says sounds like nonsense. Or at least it would have, had I not seen some strange things with my own eyes."

"Where is she now? We can talk, but we need to find Sokka and our other friend. They were on the boat."

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry for that. Had I known...but yes, yes, right this way. Er, Teo, take her to the mess hall. I'll be along in a moment."

Teo led her off the bridge and down a straight passage to the mess deck. It was here Katara suddenly realized the submarine was lit not by candles or lanterns, but glowing, glass tubes that ran around the ceiling in long segments. She was about to ask Teo about them when she saw Nekka sitting at one of the tables over a bowl of plain rice, the Necronomicon beside her and wrapped in a new, dry cloth.

"Nekka, I'm glad you're okay," said Katara, gliding over to the girl but stopping short of hugging her.

Nekka looked up from her rice."These people claim they know you, but I didn't want to tell them too much."

"We're done with this secrecy nonsense," Katara declared, seeing Nekka was none the worse for her recent ordeal. "None of this would have happened had Sokka told us the truth about the south pole."

"Not true," said Nekka. "Although I'll grant you he should have said something when the Avatar was kidnapped."

"Whoa, Aang was kidnapped? By who?" asked Teo. "I mean, last we heard someone stole Appa, but..."

"Let's wait, otherwise it'll get confusing," said Katara, going to the kitchen in search of some tea. Teo followed her and showed her the stove. He turned some dials and Katara watched a grate of metal wires turn red and hot. Teo set a kettle atop them and they waited for the steam to rise.

"This ship is generations ahead of its time," Teo said. "Those submarines father built before don't even compare."

"I can see that," she said. "How does it move? What about the lights and the stove?"

"It's really neat. There are two engines, see. One uses certain chemicals and seawater to make electricity. That's what powers the lights and things like the stove. The engine that moves the ship...well, it's weird. My father can explain it better than me."

Katara was impressed, but there were little things about the craft that worried her. Small touches, little details, nothing that would have been an issue on its own but when added up gave her the impression of a project not yet complete. Before she could press Teo for more, the Mechanist entered the mess deck, and Katara left him to make the tea while she joined Nekka at the table.

"I don't mean to be impatient, but we had to leave dry land in a hurry, so it's important we find my brother and his friend soon," Katara said.

"Of course we'll look for them, but you must understand we can't stay in these waters for much longer. That thing that sunk your vessel has on our trail for days. The only time it's halted its pursuit was to attack you. We almost didn't come back, but my conscience couldn't bear it."

"What is it? We didn't get a good look," said Katara.

The Mechanist shook his head and adjusted his spectacles. "As near as I can tell it's an enormous worm. I always suspected the deep sea harbored creatures of enormous proportions, but my expertise lies in engineering, not biology, so I have no explanation for the creature."

"A dhole, most likely," said Nekka. "Hopefully it's the one Azula said attacked the library."

"Azula?"

Katara found it funny that the man blinked at that name more than that of the awful dhole, but she quickly explained how the Fire Nation princess had come to be in their group.

"We have quite a story to tell," said Katara, "But since yours is probably shorter, you should go first. Teo already told me about what happened in the temple."

"No need to rehash that, then," said the Mechanist, taking a cup of tea from the tray Teo had brought over. "I built this submarine a few years ago, you see, after a natural gas explosion uncovered a passage to an underground lagoon, which through an undersea tunnel led to the ocean. The explosion was the catalyst for this craft in more ways than one, which I won't bore you with now, but suffice to say it was a good thing it was seaworthy when we were attacked."

"After we escaped in this vessel, we thought to tell the Earth Kingdom army of what we'd encountered, but when our landing party returned with the bizarre news about the rising and sinking island, the Avatar's bison being stolen and Sokka being a fugitive, I got a hunch that something wasn't right, so I thought it best we retreat to the sea and let things blow over. You have to understand, we lost so many..."

He swallowed hard and exchanged a long glance with his son. "It was the flood all over again, the one that took my wife and Teo's ability to walk. Only it was worse. We needed to heal."

"And then that worm thing chased you?"

"Yes," said the Mechanist. "It's been relentless. I thought perhaps it saw us as prey, but we've passed by whales and boats and it never diverted its course, that is until we came across you. That's part of the reason we came back. Not only was the beast's behavior odd, but our instruments registered some strange phenomenon. Did lightning strike you, perchance?"

"That would have been Azula," said Katara. "She's a powerful firebender and can create lightning bolts."

"Amazing," said the Mechanist. "I suppose there's not much to tell from our end, at least as far as how we came to be here."

Katara nodded, and taking a cup of tea, she rallied herself and told their story, counting on the strange things the Mechanist and Teo had seen to lend it credibility. When she was done, the Mechanist rubbed his temples then rested his elbows on the table, covering his mouth with his hands. Teo's mouth hung open, working to form a question but producing only silence.

"That's why we have to find Sokka and Azula so we can get this done. We may have until the spring equinox, but we don't know how long dealing with the Old Ones is going to take or even if they'll help at all."

Katara felt her chest growing tight. She had not expected this, but talking about meeting the Old Ones reminded her that Aang was closer now than he had been in days.

"We will search for them, I promise," said the Mechanist, his patchy eyebrows bending with concern. "But we'll be no good to anyone if that worm catches us, and if what you say is accurate then this vessel is crucial. Does Sokka really think to reach the sea floor in one of those old subs? They weren't meant for deep water, surely he knows that?"

Shrugging, Katara hung her head. "He might have had some crazy plan to modify them, I don't know."

"I won't say it's impossible, but it's not something he could pull off with a hammer and a spare afternoon," said the Mechanist. "Even this ship could use some more work before I felt completely safe taking it to the very bottom, especially after the damage it has suffered from our initial dust-up with the creature."

"I can help look," said Katara. "If you have to leave, we can meet up later."

"That won't be necessary," said the Mechanist. "We can search the area where your ship was destroyed quite quickly. They could not have drifted far, and so if we don't see them it means they were picked up."

He seemed to realize how ominous his words sounded and his eyes held a silent apology. "Let us set about searching. Teo will have to preform some duties if this is to go quickly, so you're free to eat here as much as you like. Join us on the bridge when you're ready."

He got up and Teo rolled out of the room ahead of him. Before the Mechanist took three steps he remembered something and turned. "Oh, I was meaning to ask, when you were in the air temple did you happen to see what became of my crystal experiment?"

Katara remembered the big green crystal in the room full of smaller ones. She had gone through it before meeting the shoggoth. "Yes, I saw it. The big crystal was tipped over and there were a bunch of smaller ones on the floor."

"Ah, that was it. You, um, didn't happen to see a chalk board there, did you?"

"I don't think so. I didn't really get a chance to look it over much. Why?"

He was about to give a long answer, but then shrugged. "They had some interesting properties, that's all. I'll send Teo to fetch you when we find your friends, or if you're needed. Farewell for now."

After they had gone, Nekka was pondering the Necronomicon which was still covered in its cloth. "I wish I'd seen those crystals he was talking about," Nekka said.

"Really? Why?"

"These days crystals are mainly used for spiritual purposes, but even before I had a chance to read a complete Necronomicon I had heard they once were used for more," Nekka was rubbing the book as if it were a furry, slightly dangerous, pet.

"Like what?"

She shrugged, her hand gingerly touching the book. "It's hard to say. The old words have multiple meanings."

Rolling her eyes, Katara finished her tea and thought about food. Despite the rumble in her stomach, she decided she would go to the bridge. "If you think of anything that might help, let me know," she said.

She left the mess deck and retraced her steps to the bridge, silently sending her thoughts to both her brother, and Aang, wherever they were. She feared being overcome by worry, but when the passage filled with red light and the clanging of alarm bells, she broke into a run towards the bridge wondering what fresh disaster the lights and sounds signaled.

-888-

The green waters around Outer-Maw had become choppy, and the sailors all said a storm was due. There was no sign at all of Katara, Nekka, or the boat they had been on. Sokka spent all his waking hours on the deck of Piandao's cruiser with his eyes on the sea while Azula watched alongside him or from another part of the ship.

It was the middle of the afternoon when she came to him. He was staring hard at the village of Outer-Maw through a sheet of drizzling rain.

"Looks like I didn't burn it down completely. What a shame. We should finish it off, then leave," she said.

"Not without my sister. And Nekka," he said.

She was choosing her words carefully, putting him in a fouler mood. "We don't have long before my brother's ships show up, and whatever attacked us will likely be back for more. I'm certain I hit it with a lightning bolt, but clearly I didn't slay it."

Before he could speak, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "They're not floating around out here, and if they're not in that village then there's only one other place they can be, and to go after them we'll need a submarine. Your friend here can drop us off somewhere civilized and we can sneak in like we originally planned."

-Her plan is wise,- said the Old One.

-Shut up.-

He felt her hand massaging the back of his neck and for a moment his body went rigid, unused to casual affection from her. "Is your friend agreeing with me? Mine only ever wanted me to burn things."

"That explains a lot," he said, and got his ear flicked. "Ow."

"You deserved it," she said. "Now, I'm sure even your sister would agree with me on this. We risk another disaster with every minute we sail these waters."

"You don't speak for her," he said, trying not to sound hostile as he walked towards the ship's tower. "But fine, we'll raid the village. It doesn't look like we'll find much there anyway, none of the boats have been out."

"Maybe we'll take some captives and they'll tell us what happened," Azula said. "Or are you too squeamish to get information out of them?"

"You're being evil again," he said too quietly for her to hear.

Before he could enter the ship to find Piandao and plan an attack on the village, one of the sailors in the tower began shouting, "Port side, five hundred yards out. A...thing...a whale?"

"Monster!" shouted sailors with better eyesight, and the ships alarm bells were set to ringing. Sokka ran to the gunwale to see if it was a whale or monster the men had sighted. Under other circumstances he would not have been sure, for all he saw was a disturbance in the water coming closer. He looked to the tower where he saw Piandao through a window on the bridge, calling out orders.

"Battle stations!" a man shouted, the order having been relayed through other sailors to those on the deck.

Azula ran to the prow where she ordered the firebender manning the flame platform to stand down. He made a show of looking indignant, but it was clear he was eager to have firmer footing beneath him. All of the men on the deck were afraid, but then Azula began to shout orders, arranging them in a row on the side of the ship she expected would soon face the monster.

Sokka, along with the men, felt braver under her direction and did as they were told. Reasoning that he was in no more danger near the gunwale than the middle of the deck, he stood by one one of the firebenders in order to get a better look at the creature.

It was a submarine.

"What the...whoa! Stop! Hold your fire!" Sokka shouted. "It's not a monster, it's a ship!"

Had he more time to consider their position, he would have reasoned that the submarine could easily have been the thing that sank their boat and was an enemy, but some instinct told him this was not the case and so he never ceased to shout for the firebenders to stand down.

Azula, however, was ordering them to prepare to fire while she readied a lightning ball. "Azula, no! It's a submarine, can't you see!?"

The submarine had slowed and turned so it would broadside their ship and slip past. Sokka could see large dents in the hull and he could tell the vessel possessed nothing in the way of weaponry. "Don't fire! Leave it alone!"

"You fool, look behind it!" shrieked Azula.

Sokka was a head shorter than the firebenders, who were tall to begin with and wore thick soled boots. He stood up on the gunwale, using one of the larger benders for balance, and saw what Azula meant. A large, wide shape was cruising beneath the waves in the wake of the submarine. Its entire body was undulating as though it were a blanket in a breeze. When it drew close to the ship, it shot out of the water, casting its massive shadow over the deck.

Its long body was flat, and segmented. As it sailed over them, it suddenly changed, going from flat to tube-shaped in order to force itself downward into the deck.

It was a wonder the ship did not break in half under the worm's weight. Sokka was nearly thrown overboard, along with half the firebenders, but they threw themselves flat onto the deck as the worm pushed the ship down low enough for the waves to lap over it briefly.

When the ship bobbed back up, Azula shouted for the men to keep firing. Their flame blasts struck the worm's tough hide, blackening it, but causing no true damage.

Piandao and a dozen other non-benders came rushing out of the ship, each carrying a harpoon or some kind of blade. Piandao carried two harpoons and tossed one to Sokka, and together they charged the worm, which was rolling towards the prow, making the ship tilt forward and the metal keel groan.

Blades fared better in piercing the worm's hide than flames, yet it did not writhe or seem to take any notice of its flesh being pierced, save to roll towards the front of the ship, causing the vessel to tilt more. Sokka worried for Azula, who was on the other side of the worm with little room to spare, but he needn't have, for she used her bending to vault herself over its tremendous girth to land beside the rest of the firebenders.

The worm caught against the ship's hooked prow, which suited its ends just fine and allowed it to further put strain on the keel rather than roll off into the water.

"Keep attacking!" Piandao shouted. "We need it off the deck!"

Azula attacked with lightning bolts while the other benders shot fire. To the dismay of all, Azula's lightning had as little effect as the flames, being diffused across the segmented body which Sokka could see now was covered in millions of tiny spines.

At a loss for what to do, Sokka stood for a moment and watched the worm be chopped at and burned in vain while it kept shifting its weight against the prow. Piandao had slowed his attacks as well, putting much of his effort into thinking of a better strategy.

Azula was blasting away with her lightning bolts despite the energy being caught and dispersed over the millions of spines. The men who came at the monster with spears and harpoons fell back, fearing her attacks would hit them. He was about to shout at her, tell her to try her blue fire for he knew it to be hotter than the the average firebender's, but then an idea struck him.

"Azula, hold your lightning!" he shouted, hefting his metal harpoon in his hand.

He charged the worm as all other attacks against it ceased, giving him a clear aim at the space between one of its body segments. He drove the harpoon in as deep as he could get it, then let it stick there as he ran back. Azula was smiling, having read his simple plan perfectly.

Her lightning bolt struck the harpoon and was guided into the worm's flesh beneath its armored exterior. The entire body contracted in an effort to dislodge the offending piece of metal, but was in too deep.

"More harpoons!" Sokka shouted, and benders and non-benders alike took up arms and did as he had done, sticking the metal rods deep between the worm's segment. When they were clear, Azula became like a thunder cloud, lighting up each spear and harpoon and sending great amounts of hot energy into the worms now writhing body.

The worm's dull maroon hide turned char black and smoldered freely by the time Azula stopped, out of breath and wobbling. Sokka steadied her and she drew up, elated over her triumph.

"We need to get it off the ship," said Piandao. "All hands, get ropes and poles!"

The worm proved to be more troublesome in death than in life, as the battle shifted to something akin to a public works project. The spines that had at first saved it from Azula's lightning now kept it from being sloughed off into the water. An early idea to slice the worm in half and let it fall in was nixed for fear of many tons of spilled innards being loosed onto the deck. Around the same time someone suggested the ship's hooked prow be trimmed and the worm rolled, a sailor informed Piandao that the the lower decks were taking on water from stress cracks.

It was then they learned that the worm's insides were on fire. Black smoke billowed out of the hide, and the stench became unbearable.

"It will burn itself off eventually," said Azula, holding her nose.

"We're still tempting fate by being here," said Piandao. "Has there been any sign of that submarine that passed us?"

A few moments later a sailor returned from the ship's aft. "It looks like it's stopped a mile out," he said.

"Hail it," said Piandao.

"Use Earth Kingdom signals," added Sokka. "I got a hunch."

Azula accompanied him and Piandao to the rear of the boat where a sailor holding two red flags was striking a series of poses. "I've asked them to identify themselves," said the sailor. "Um...how are they supposed to respond, sir?"

"We'll have to wait and see," said Piandao.

The submarine sat partially submerged, appearing much like an egg. From its oval top sprouted the periscope. Sokka waved at it, hoping his hunch was not only correct but his most pressing desire had been met as well.

When a hatch near the para-scope opened, he cheered when he saw his sister climb out and dive into the water, only to be shot back up in the center of a swirling water spout that ferried her to the deck of the ship.

"Sokka!" she shouted, landing and hugging him all in an instant. He squeezed her back, but felt the air being forced from him. "Sokka, I was so worried!"

"Same here," he said, when she let him go. She embraced Piandao as well, and nodded awkwardly at Azula.

"Is that who I think it is?" Sokka asked, pointing to the submarine.

"The Mechanist, yeah," she said. "Nekka is safe on board. Is the worm...?"

"Dead? Yeah, Azula cooked it good."

"It's been chasing the Mechanist for a while now. He picked us up after our boat got wrecked, and we were looking for you when I guess it came back. We didn't mean to lead it to you, but it damaged the submarine so it can't steer well, or submerge very far," Katara said.

Sokka felt some of his good mood waver, but he knew all machines could be fixed. "Well, this still worked out pretty good," he said.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the longer that creature is draped over the ship the closer we get to sinking," said Piandao. "Katara, do you think that submarine could perhaps pull the worm off us? Or can you use your bending to move it?"

They led her to the smoldering worm. Smoke had completely covered the deck, and they all had to cover their noses and mouths. "I can help with my bending, but we'd better get the sub in on this," she said.

"Let's hurry, then," said Piandao.

Katara rode a wave back to the submarine and with some difficulty, it moved into position. It took several hours, but before the day was done the worm was pulled from the Fire Nation ship's deck where its hollow, burnt body filled with water and sank. It was reported to Piandao that the damage to the ship's keel had not gotten any worse and could be patched.

It was agreed that the safest place to be was far from Outer-Maw island and the Fire Nation itself for the time being, and so the two vessels set a course for the Earth Kingdom coast with the agreement they would keep within sight of each other, but far enough apart so as to confound any pursuers who happened upon them. Sokka and Azula chose to board the submarine, where during the evening hours they found themselves on the mess deck with the Mechanist, Teo, Katara, and Nekka.

"The damage to our vessel is nothing that can't be repaired," said the Mechanist as they sat at the same table he had spoken with Katara over before. "However I fear you haven't spared yourself a trip to the Fire Nation after all. Aside from the rudder, our ballast tanks were severely damaged. They were roughed up in the worm's very first attack, and now I fear we can't dive very far at all."

"That settles it. We should go back to that awful swamp, get your bison, fly to the capital and take control," said Azula.

"That's a terrible idea," said Katara, scowling.

"It's better than sneaking into a shipyard to steal a junk submarine so we can repair a broken one, which we're then going to use to argue with space worms."

"Does anyone know if Zuko and Toph can still bend?" Sokka asked.

"They might not," said Azula.

"We'd be silly to assume they can't," replied Katara almost before Azula finished. "And if they can, then we'll be attacking two powerful benders backed up by the Kyoshi Warriors and who knows how many Royal Fire Guards? And that's assuming they don't have new weird powers or pet monsters."

"Our last invasion of the Fire Nation didn't go so well, as I recall," said the Mechanist.

"That's because I wasn't on your side," said Azula. "You lost because of me. Ba Sing Se fell because of me. I can do this!"

"That's what we're afraid of," said Katara.

Sokka bent his head over his empty dinner plate, not remembering what he had eaten. He was suddenly quite tired. He had been trying to follow Azula and his sister's bickering so he could step in at the right moment to head off what might become a physical fight, but their words no longer made sense. He saw the Mechanist attempting to steer the conversation into a productive area, but judging by the volume of the women's conversation, he was failing.

There was a question needling his mind that he wished to ask the Mechanist, but he was not up for another round of question, answer, and theory. He yawned and was on his feet when a thought tickled him.

"I have an idea," he announced, and they all fell silent. He made eye contact with each and let them lean towards him a little bit before uttering his plan. "For now, let's do nothing."

Azula and Katara's objections became mingled and lost within each other, while the Mechanist stroked his beard. Sokka waved his hands to settle them and make room for an explanation. "Look, we are not in a great place right now. We're on the run in two busted ships with no way to accomplish our ultimate goal..."

"Sokka, Aang is at the mercy of those things! Every day that goes by...

"You think our enemies won't be getting stronger while we lick our wounds? Zuko might start another war to clear Cthulhu's way..."

"Hey!" he shouted, suddenly angry. "Zuko already knows we're coming, and the Mechanist being attacked means they know we want to talk to the Old Ones. We took one on the chin just now, and we'll get hit worse if we keep pressing the attack. We'll back off, let them think we're on the run, then we'll find a better plan."

"That sounds sensible, young man," said the Mechanist. "And I don't mean to be contrary, but we never agreed to let you use this vessel for your intended purpose."

He held his hands up when all, including his son, glared at him. "Now, now, I'm simply pointing out that you never formally asked. Ah, at any rate we're not getting anything done tonight. Teo, would you be so kind as to give these ladies a short tour of the ship and arrange quarters for, eh, Princess Azula. Sokka, I'd like to show you the ship's engine if that's alright."

Sokka made eye contact with both his sister and Azula and received wordless promises they would behave well enough. Neither looked happy about being guided away from something the Mechanist thought important, but fatigue seemed to weigh on them all now, even Teo who moved his wheelchair away slowly while Katara helped clear the table.

Sokka and the Mechanist left to the sound of Katara scolding Azula for not helping with the dishes and were out of earshot by the time Azula began her rebuttal.

"This will have to be quick," said Sokka. "Those two are not a good combination."

The Mechanist's laugh echoed in the lighted corridor, which Sokka still admired despite having seen the submarine's wonders for the past few hours.

"That's partly why I asked Teo to take them elsewhere. The other reason is I want what I'm about to show you kept between as few ears as possible, at least for the time being," he said.

"Sounds dangerous," Sokka said.

"Not dangerous exactly, but...well, I'll let you see it and judge for yourself."

He led Sokka deep into the submarine, which was about the size of a small cruiser, to the engine room. Sokka saw the engine was much like anything he had seen before either on a ship or the larger airships. The Mechanist pointed out its design features, showing how it was a fairly sophisticated engine despite there being nothing overtly special about it.

"This way," said the Mechanist, leading Sokka into another, smaller room. Running across the back wall was a series of metal tubes. The Mechanist threw back a sliding hatch built into the side of the middle tube and the dark room was awash in red light from the long crystal loaded inside like a torpedo. Sokka took a step back at the wave of heat it was giving off, and could see it was rotating slowly inside its container and making a low, humming noise. The Mechanist closed the tube and wiped sweat from his brow.

"Your sister said you may have glanced at my crystal experiment at the Northern Air Temple," he said.

"Yeah, it was pretty trashed."

"Even the equations on the chalk board?"

Sokka had to think a moment, and when he nodded in the affirmative the Mechanist clucked his tongue. "Drat. My thoughts never solidified to the point where I felt the need to write them down on a more permanent medium."

Noting Sokka's confusion, he gestured to the tubes. "These crystals are unlike anything you've seen before, I'll wager. We found this supply in the bowels of the earth, after a gas explosion at the temple. Not the one I lost eyebrows in, but the one that opened up the way to the secret cove where this vessel was constructed. I began studying them after I noticed some of their more interesting properties. This one caught my attention first, as you can imagine."

"They make the heat for the steam which turns the turbine and that's what powers the submarine," Sokka said.

"Yes. They release heat once subjected to a shock of some kind, say an explosion or a tremor. I don't know how long they'll last, but so far they've shown no signs of cooling."

"That is pretty neat," said Sokka. "You guys have been busy since the war ended."

"Indeed, and not just with these heat crystals. There are others, Sokka, one in particular I'm keen to discuss with you."

The man's manner was like a parent hiding a special gift from a child, savoring its anticipation and wonder. Sokka might have gleefully played along, but now he was feeling impatient. The Mechanist sensed this, and with good humor explained himself.

"The blue-green crystals didn't react to trauma, heat, or anything conventional. It was when I tried subjected them to vibrating frequencies that I produced some alarming results."

"Alarming how?"

"Well, the first crystal I tested was a relatively small one. I put it before an apparatus not unlike a tuning fork and almost immediately it began to...shimmer."

"Shimmer?"

"Well, more like fade, I suppose. As though it couldn't decide whether it was there or not."

Sokka glanced at the tubes on the wall and could still feel the heat left in the room from the one the Mechanist had opened. He nodded, and the man continued. "At a certain frequency, it vanished completely, but that's not the strange part. It reappeared in the temple courtyard!"

"From..."

"From the lab, yes. It vanished and reappeared somewhere else! Can you believe it!?"

He could, and nodded for the Mechanist to continue however he was on a roll now, speaking rapidly and in hushed tones.

"I tried it again and the crystal crumbled into a fine powder rather than vanish. We had plenty of these things, you see, so I tried the same experiment with a larger one, and it too vanished. I haven't seen it since, but I subscribe to a quarterly publication put out by Ba Sing Se University. In the back they sometimes publish, er, weird tales, I suppose you could call them, for entertainment purposes mostly, or so I thought. At any rate, I read about a large blue-green crystal suddenly appearing outside a village in the eastern Earth Kingdom. It was reportedly covered in a clear slime that was infested with dead, black worms."

He wore a look of incredulity as though he did not believe his own story.

Sokka had come fully awake, nodded along with the Mechanist's words. "I think Katara was telling me earlier about something Nekka said that she learned in the Necronomicon. Something about crystals having other uses besides spirit stuff," he said.

The Mechanist clapped his hands together in relief, however his eyes still held pain. "Yes, things are becoming clearer now. Why us, Sokka? Why did those monsters drive us from our homes and pursue us through the sea?"

Sokka now looked guilty and had to avert his eyes. "At first I thought they found you guys because they knew where we were going...the thing in Azula's mind was letting her be tracked somehow, but then I thought maybe they knew you had a submarine and didn't want us getting to the Old Ones."

He rubbed the back of his neck, not certain at all about what drove their enemies to do what they did.

The Mechanist's hand clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't blame yourself for anything," he said. "It seems they were more afraid of what I was slowly learning in regards to those crystals."

"Being able to appear somewhere else? Yeah, that'd get us where we wanted to go pretty quick."

"No, no. Well, yes, but think of it this way. When the crystal was not here, where was it?"

"Uh, wherever it ended up?"

"No, see, I checked the dates in the article. Four weeks had passed since it disappeared from my lab and was found in the Earth Kingdom, four weeks! Where was it when it wasn't in either place?"

"I..."

The Mechanist waved his hand and shook his head in dismissal. "I don't know, either, but it went somewhere. Somewhere else. Somewhere outside. Do you understand?"

"I might," Sokka said, now wanting desperately to get back to his quarters for a few moments with Azula before they slept. Moments when she would not be arguing.

"All I'm suggesting is that these crystals may be vitally important to us, perhaps more so than this submarine," said the Mechanist.

"You don't have any on board, do you? The bluey-greeney colored ones?"

"A small one, and now it's clear to me that I should dispose of it, at least for the time being until we know how to use them. I think these beings can home in on them somehow."

There was a pause, as though the Mechanist were waiting for a consensus between them. After stroking his chin, Sokka spoke slowly. "Hold that thought for now," he said. "I doubt something else is going to show up right away, and we might want one of those crystals later. Just a hunch."

Frowning, the Mechanist nodded. "Our hunches may be the only things we can rely on now. I'm an engineer and a scientist, but we're dealing with forces well beyond even our most advanced scientific understandings."

Hearing it said so loud and plainly after all this time, Sokka was forced into a fit of laughter which he brought under rein before the Mechanist could think him mad. He clapped the man on the shoulder and it was returned with a weak smile. "I'm gonna go find the girls and put an end to the war they've probably started. Unless you want to show me all the other cool stuff this sub can do?"

The Mechanist's smile broadened. "That sounds like a good plan. I'll show you the ballast tanks so you can see the scope of the problem there."

He followed the Mechanist out of the engine room, and below the hum of the machines fancied he could almost hear his sister and Azula shouting at one another.

To be continued...


	19. Princess in the Mirror

Suzi sat before a mirror framed in black wood with red swirls. Her reflection was crisp and clear, giving her a good look of the thing that had landed her in so much trouble.

Never having seen Princess Azula outside of portraits, Suzi had always been skeptical of the resemblance she was said to bear, but her first public appearance shortly after Sokka disappeared had banished any doubt. The looks of fear and adoration on the faces of the nobility had made her swell up, furthering allowing her to play the part she had been coached for by Iroh.

Iroh. Thinking of the kind old man brought grief to her eyes as she sat brushing her long, dark hair. It had been a few days since her last visit with him, which she conducted under the pretense of an interrogation aimed at learning where Piandao had fled to and what he was planning.

It was Iroh who suggested Suzi send a letter to her mother after she told him about the bounties that Zuko had put out. He even helped her think of what words to write that would convince her mother to skip town while not revealing anything incriminating should the letter be read by the wrong eyes.

A knock at her chamber door made her drop her brush. "Enter," she said, curtly. According to Iroh, Azula was not polite to servants, especially ones that announced themselves in so vulgar a fashion as a door-knock.

When Zuko entered, she hid her fear with a mask of cold contempt. "Oh, it's you," she said.

Zuko showed no sigh of taking offense to her tone, not like he had on their first meeting. The thing that wore his body was a fast learner, however, and had quickly come to realize that the Fire Lord and his sister had a strained relationship. Rather than treat her poorly or throw her in jail with the others, the thing calling itself Zuko had sought to make nice with the girl he thought was Azula.

This had calmed her fears despite leading to some uncomfortable conversations, but now that she saw Zuko had entered with his hands behind his back, she nearly leaped off her stool to run.

"You look well," he said, stopping in the middle of the room, his hands still concealed. "I'm glad to see you haven't contracted any new illnesses from the asylum."

"Your concern is touching, brother," Suzi said, clearing her throat. She had feigned having caught a cold from her last visit with Iroh, which she had used as an excuse to avoid him and the others who had come back.

"I brought you a present and I came for your advice on something," he said, coming closer, his hands still behind his back and further shielded by his long cape.

"You're asking for my advice on something? That's a new one," she said, watching his face carefully for any sign of aggression.

Rather than respond, Zuko showed her what he had been hiding. It was a hideous little statue made from obsidian. He set it on her vanity and let his fingers fall away from it in a caress. It took her a moment to make sense of what she was seeing.

Its head was like that of a squid, only the tentacles numbered in the dozens. It had arms like a man, yet its body was that of a short, stocky dragon. A pair of wings completed the befuddlement. "W-what is it?" Suzi asked. "Where did you find that?"

"I carved it myself. A long, long time ago. Do you like it? You painted something similar on the walls of your cell, according to Healer Bin."

"You want art tips?" she asked, feeling cold.

Zuko emitted a noise he likely thought to be laughter. "The game you've been playing is over with and it's time for the game your friends are playing to end as well.

Suzi swallowed, her hand trembling as it went to grasp the hairbrush she had been using, but left on the vanity. The handle came to a sharp point. Azula owned a number of odd, deadly items such as that.

Zuko leaned in and knocked the brush to the floor with a sweep of his hand, along with a makeup case.

"What has gotten into you!" she said, keeping her voice steady in the off chance she had misunderstood him.

Zuko chuckled. "What's gotten into me indeed," he said. "We had to take these bodies in haste and we were not prepared for their minds to offer so much resistance. As a result there's a been a great deal of time-consuming charades, but no longer, at least not with you."

Suzi could not stop trembling, and closed her eyes briefly to think of her father's face, the one hanging on the wall in her mother's home. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" she asked.

"I am a servant of the Great One, the Traveler Between Stars, the Sojourner. He has many names, and I am but a part of his glory. As for what I want, that's simple. Your cooperation."

"My cooperation with what?"

"First, your real name. I suspect it's Suzi?"

She nodded. "How did you..."

"I should have caught on earlier," Zuko said. "We knew the girl who went with Sokka to the pole city came back with a souvenir, something embedded in her mind like a tumor that allowed the Great One to send her messages and dreams and to know her general location on this wretched world. The Great One speaks to us, too, but his voice is difficult to hear, which is why it took so long for us to realize who that girl was, and who you must not be."

"I don't..."

"I wasn't finished," he said, his features twisting like that of a snapping eel. "I doubt you know enough about Sokka and Azula's plans to tell me anything useful about them, but I wonder if you didn't know about Piandao's escaping? Where has he gone?"

"I don't know," Suzi said, and was slapped.

The blow shocked her more than it hurt, and an odd thing happened. Rather than tremble more, a calm sensation flowed out from the heat in her cheek, stopping her from shaking. "Are you certain?" asked Zuko.

She nodded, and figuring her genuine ignorance was her best defense, held her chin up and fixed the Fire Lord with a flat stare. "I didn't know anything about it. My job was to pretend to be Princess Azula so there wouldn't be a coup."

"As I suspected. Well, then, it seems we'll have to rely on your cooperation in laying a trap."

"Never," she said.

This time his hand clamped around the back of her neck, eliciting a tiny squeak from her throat. "You will help me bring the meddlers to heel. They can do nothing to stop the coming of Mighty Cthulhu, but they can make us, His servants, look unworthy. This world must be prepared for His coming, and while none of you will likely be spared, your ends can at least be swift and without pain. You will help us capture the pests and you will use your false title to embrace new beliefs and new customs, ones which will please Cthulhu when He arrives."

"I won't...help you..." Suzi said, wiggling in Zuko's grasp, unable to fathom what madness he was prattling about.

"Its seems you're stubborn as well," said Zuko. "Well, I see no sense in Azula being allowed to remain outside of her cage any longer. Perhaps a week or two in a cell with no light or food will change your mind. Perhaps we'll send you to the Plateau of Leng and see how strong your mind is?"

"I'll tell everyone what you really are," she said, knowing it was a stupid threat even as she said it. Zuko saw that much in her face, and his simpering smile made her sick.

"Please do, it'll make my case for sending you back all the better. I will have your cooperation sooner or later. If your time in the dark alone doesn't win it over, perhaps a cell where you can hear what's happening to the old man will do the trick? Either option would be better than my final alternative."

She felt tears in her eyes, but the thought of her father's portrait helped her choke them back. To calm herself, she wrapped Azula's attitude and mannerisms around her like a coat and it kept her from picking up the sharp hairbrush and doing something foolish after the false Zuko left the room to fetch a pair of guards.

-888-

Sokka woke and pulled the blanket off one half of his body to let the air of the submarine's cabin cool him. His other half remained covered and pressed against Azula, who was like a furnace. He had dreamed about domed buildings in the sunless darkness of the deep ocean.

The glass tubes that lit the submarine were adjusted to fit with the level of daylight outside, and the faint glow of the one above the door indicated it was morning.

He had been tired after leaving the Mechanist, but had more energy than he thought after seeing Azula in their room. Sokka found the best part was watching her sleep, which she did quite soundly now. Only when she was dead to the world could he stare at her and have no fear of what she might be thinking or planning.

-A sure sign of a healthy relationship,- he thought ruefully.

He planted a kiss on her pale forehead and blew on it in a half-attempt to rouse her. Her lips were parted slightly, and her sides rose and fell, lifting his hand with them. Her sleeping softness was the starkest of illusions given how sharp and predatory she looked while awake, but he enjoyed it all the more for that.

Azula stirred and her arm slipped over his chest and around his neck. Her amber eyes had come open, startling him and he felt his body tense. "I see it's morning," she said, her eyes squinting even in the dim light.

"Yep," he said. "Nice and early." A sleeve could be drawn across the light to dim it, but one had to get up and go to the door for that to happen.

Groaning, Azula buried her face against his shoulder and he scratched behind her ear. Small affections still made him feel strange, and he resolved to keep showing them until that feeling went away. "Guess what?" he said.

"Ugh."

"Close, but I've changed my mind about laying low. I think your plan to attack is a good one," he said.

She opened her eyes wide and looked at his grinning face, wondering what he was playing at. "I made some small adjustments, though," he said, kissing her cheek.

"In that case it's your fault if it fails," she said, glaring at him before cracking a smile.

"Works for me. Come on, let's go tell the others and get going."

It was agony to pull himself away from her and get dressed. Everything was cold now, even though the submarine was comfortably heated using steam from the crystal-powered engine.

He washed up in a basin. Despite her voiced enthusiasm, she was content to remain in bed and so he drew the blind over the door light and bid her a farewell which she responded to with a sleepy flop of her hand.

Katara and Nekka were not in the quarters they shared, but on the mess deck eating breakfast with the people who had come off the night shift. Sokka was happy to see they no longer looked like hunted rabbit deer, but they still wore their ordeals on their faces and in their eyes.

Sokka got himself some rice and turtle duck eggs and sat next to Nekka, across from Katara. "Good morning," he said cheerily.

Katara looked at him with sagging eyelids and to his surprise, disgust. "Good morning," she said, poking the remains of her breakfast.

"So," he said, now fearful of voicing his plan. "I thought about it, and I think we should not only steal a sub from the Fire Nation to use as spare parts, but we should rescue Iroh, too."

She chewed a mouthful of food and did not look at him, letting the moment stretch painfully before she swallowed. "I like it," she said.

"Come on, it's a good plan," he said. "Saving Iroh is actually a distraction, see..."

Katara nodded in an exaggerated fashion. "Yes, I agree with you," she said. "We could have come up with this last night had your girlfriend not been insisting on getting us to help her take over the Fire Nation."

-Don't argue, you have what you want,- he heard the Old One say.

-Gee, thanks, buddy,- he thought, smiling and finishing off his breakfast.

When they were finished eating Sokka went to the bridge. Azula joined him not long after they had exchanged good mornings, and it was decided they would gather on Piandao's ship within the hour. Signals were sent, and Katara used her bending to ferry them all over to the cruiser where Piandao received them in the ship's admiral's room.

"I wonder, Sokka, what changed your mind?" asked Piandao once he had explained the intricacies of his plan.

"Fortune favors the bold," Sokka replied, grinning and feeling a bit like his old self again. "Is your part of the plan pretty clear? You're going to have to supply a lot of the details yourself."

Piandao nodded confidently, and hashed out a rough sketch of how Sokka's desires would be accomplished. When they were done, Sokka stood to get everyone's attention and to summarize what they had concocted.

This will be a two-pronged attack," Sokka said. "Azula and I will go back to Foggy Bottom Swamp and get Appa. We'll fly to the asylum where Iroh is being held, bust him out, then fly east into the Earth Kingdom, but slowly, giving whatever Cthulhu has up his sleeve time to chase us a little bit. This is all to distract from what Piandao and Katara will be doing, which is stealing a submarine from the warehouse north of the capital. Once you've got the submarine, we'll gather at Polar Shark Island in Southern Water Tribe seas."

"Why don't I go with you, and Azula can go with Piandao," Katara said. "She knows the Fire Nation better, and Iroh might be in need of water healing. Knowing you, you'll need it too, after we get him out."

Sokka's cheeks flushed but he kept himself confident and cheerful. "The old submarines are waterbender-powered, remember? And Nekka stinks at waterbending. No offense."

"None taken," Nekka said, flicking a finger over her tea cup and spilling some onto the table.

"Fine," Katara said, the sound of defeat in her voice like a knife in Sokka's chest. He had not expected to feel bad about being right.

"Good. If we're lucky, they won't notice the submarine is gone and might get confused about what we're up to. We know they don't want us talking to the Old Ones, which might be why they went after the Mechanist and his submarine. There might be another reason, too."

He looked to the Mechanist, who drew a deep breath before relating all he had told Sokka about the crystals.

Nekka sensed everyone was now looking at her, and she sipped her tea before timidly saying she knew little about blue-green disappearing crystals. "Perhaps we can ask the Old Ones themselves," she muttered.

"They're still at the Northern Air Temple at any rate," said Sokka. "What I want to know is how those star-spawn things got a shoggoth to help them."

No one had any ideas about that, and with their plans laid a course was set to take them closer to the Foggy Bottom Swamp.

They gathered on the deck where Katara said she would go with Nekka and the Mechanist back to the submarine in case there was trouble, for the craft was less capable of defending itself than the cruiser. She left without saying much more to Sokka, who sighed with frustration when she was gone.

"Siblings can be difficult," said Azula.

"She misses Aang. So do I. I miss a lot of things."

"Walk with me," Azula said, taking his hand and leading him towards the ship's aft. The waves were churning as the ship slowly began to pick up speed, creating a stiff wind at their backs. The gray haze on the horizon held the promise of rain in the near future.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"For a walk I said. That's what boyfriends and girlfriends do, right?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, looking around him, noticing the gunwale and the ship's tower, how the Fire Nation flag was pulling hard against its pole. From the corner of his eye he observed Azula, her chin turned up and her eyes narrow like a hawk's.

She was dressed in a red and black tunic while he wore a Fire Nation sailor's outfit. Behind the ship's tower, the breeze was not quite so insistent and she leaned on the railing next to him, their arms linked. Sokka could feel eyes on him, but refused to turn and see whose they might be.

-This is normal,- he thought. -Nothing wrong with it.-

"You feel as awkward as I do, don't you?" she asked.

"A little. It'll go away. It always feels weird at first."

"I made a fool of myself the first time I was with a boy, did I tell you?"

"You did, right after you beat me up."

She laughed cruelly, but there was something sweet in the sound. "Seems like that was a long time ago," she said. "I'm not good at trivial conversations."

"Really? You've never talked about stupid stuff with your friends?"

"My former friends. Although now I doubt they were ever really that. And no, not really. Ty Lee was always on about stupid things and Mai would humor her, but it felt like I was always listening to them, or telling them what we should be doing."

"Must have been lonely. All I had was my sister and kids a lot younger than me to talk to when I was little. With all the warriors gone I couldn't go to the other villages too often. I felt like I had to stay to hunt food and protect everyone. It didn't leave much time for friends."

"I didn't see much of Mai or Ty Lee after the academy," Azula said. "I didn't miss them, either. I only thought of them when I wanted their help to go after the Avatar."

"You didn't miss them even a little bit?"

The sternness of her face was broken by her lower lip curling, a sight which fascinated him. "I don't want to talk about them anymore," she said, bowing her head.

"Forget them," he said, feeling bad, for he liked Ty Lee and respected Mai despite seeing little of either. "The world's full of people, you know. You're bound to get along with some of them."

"I think you might be the only one. Is that something you can handle?" she said, a challenge in both her voice and expression.

Sokka turned toward her and leaned in close, fixing on her amber eyes as they blazed and shimmered. "I can handle you," he said.

For a moment it was if he had yet to say anything, and before her look could sour completely he bumped her with his hip. "You know what our problem is? We started off too deep. Most couples flirt and do dumb stuff with each other before they get all heavy," he said.

"I'm aware of that. I wasn't raised by Fire Sages, you know."

"I thought you were hatched, to be honest," he said, and she pinched him. Seeing she was truly angry, he took her by the waist and pulled her close, confusing her. "I'm just messing with you. This is what boyfriends do."

She smiled, making him feel a lick of fear up his back. "Then you won't mind me messing with you later, then, will you?" she said, drawing her face close to his.

"N-no," he stammered as she kissed him.

Her hand touched the hilt of his boomerang and she drew it up slightly. "Didn't you used to have a sword?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, my space sword! Piandao helped me make it when he took me under his wing. It's made from space metal, which is why I call it space sword. At least I did. I lost it over the Earth Kingdom when we were trying to stop the airships from burning everything."

Her laugh was musical and cruel, but seemed fueled by simple amusement. "Lost it, did you? We'll have to go searching for it someday. I like swords, but my real passion is knives."

"Huh. I had you pegged for a fire girl," he said, not wanting to mention Mai, who as far as he could tell was the one all about knives.

"Everyone thinks that. I suppose I don't do much to make them think otherwise," she said, her frown lopsided. "Uncle Iroh once sent me and Zuko gifts from the Earth Kingdom while Ba Sing Se was under siege. He sent Zuko a lovely dagger with a stone hilt, but all I got was a stupid doll. I burned it I was so angry."

"See, you do kinda have a thing for fire," he said.

"I'm a firebender, stupid, of course I like fire. I have quite a knife collection, too, assuming Zuzu didn't steal it or get rid of it."

"I never heard him mention getting rid of your stuff," Sokka said. "You'll have to show it to me some time."

"It's something to behold," she said. "I have a few made of whale bone, but I can't tell if they're Northern Water Tribe or Southern. Perhaps you can help me sort them."

"I'd love to," he said, wondering how he would really feel looking over her war trophies.

"My favorite daggers are the kind that don't look like daggers," she said. "Mai always thought herself so clever, hiding all those blades in her sleeves. My hairpin doubled as a blade, and my hairbrush...it had a silver tip so sharp you wouldn't know you'd been stuck with it until you were halfway to bleeding out."

"Cool," he said, fear rising in his throat. "You ever actually, uh, use any of those daggers?"

Her speech had been excited and bubbling, but she turned calm immediately. "You mean, have I ever stabbed anyone?"

Sokka shrugged, deeply regretting having asked, doubly so when she looked around to see if anyone could hear them. They were alone on that part of the deck, and the wind drowned out all noise but the ship's engine and their voices.

"It's funny you should ask. You remember how I always had such beautiful skin?"

He nodded, seeing that easy sleep was already beginning to restore her to her former glory. She pressed herself close to him and spoke into his ear, the unblemished one that faced the churning wake left by the cruiser. "It's a bit of a royal secret, but it turns out that human blood does wonders for the skin. My grandmother was said to bathe in a tub of it once a fortnight. I'm not old like she was, so I never needed a tub's worth, but every month I'd take one of my blades and find a girl no one would miss..."

She trailed off as his body went rigid with horror and revulsion. Peeling himself away from her by inches, he felt cold all over and looked over the gunwale, wondering if it was worth it to fight the rising vomit.

Suddenly Azula was doubled over in laughter, unable to draw a proper breath. Sokka stood like a young tree in a hard wind until she drew herself up and pressed herself against him, still laughing. "The look on your face just now," she managed to say before laughing harder into his chest.

He laughed too, enjoying the sound of her merriment even if it was a cold sound. Suddenly she was no longer laughing. "You really believed me, didn't you?" she asked, hot with anger.

Sokka's mouth hung open, but had it hung there a million years he would not have come up with anything to say. Thankfully her anger passed like a summer storm, he got off with a hard jab to the chest. "I'll forgive you this once," she said. "Enough of this stupid talking. Let's go back to our room."

The way she spoke made him almost shout, "Yes!" but he was a gentleman and made to follow her cordially. That was until she stopped abruptly and he almost bumped into her.

"Tell me we're not just doing this to take our minds off everything else," she said. "Tell me this isn't fake."

He took her gently by the arms and met her gaze. "It's a lot of things, but it's not fake," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," he said. "Relationships are what they are, you can't make them be anything and you don't know where they'll go. Trust me on that one."

"I will," she said, letting him hold her. "I've changed my mind about going back to our room, I think we should talk more."

-Damn it.-

"I agree, but only about silly stuff," he said. "You told me about your knife collection. What else did you like when you were a kid?"

"Firebending," she said. "I don't remember a time when I couldn't bend fire. Zuko hated me for it."

"No, no, no," Sokka said, shaking her gently. "When did you learn to bend lightning? I bet that was fun."

"It was," she said, smiling. "I taught myself at a young age. I was younger than my grandfather, Azulon, when he learned. Zuko and I were being tutored by a doddering old fool who I hated, so when he went off to use the privy I stole and hid one of his firebending scrolls. It was one of the few times Zuzu didn't tattle, so I was able to study it later on my own time. As it happened, it was the scroll telling how to create and direct lightning. You should have seen that man's face when I blew up the stone target he had us train with."

Her voice carried laughter with it and she smiled at him. "My father had him sent away and didn't make me learn alongside Zuzu anymore. I was more or less self-taught after that, besides one or two lessons from father and some spotting from Lo and Li."

Sokka squinted to appear thoughtful. "Huh. Too bad your uncle didn't have the time," said Sokka. "He's a pretty good firebender from what I've seen."

Azula sneered as the wind picked up around them and Sokka held his hand out to detect possible droplets of rain.

"He could have been better. Either way, he only cared about Zuzu. He hated me."

"Who, Iroh? Hard to believe he could hate anybody."

"Hate takes on many forms, Sokka."

He rubbed the back of his neck and wondered how they kept coming back to these places. She wondered the same judging by the look on her face, and Sokka scrambled for lighter fare. "I don't bend, obviously, but if I did I'd want to be an earthbender."

At first he was not sure if the abrupt change in his tone was the cause of her puzzled, somewhat annoyed expression, or his choice of element, but Azula clarified it for him quickly. "Why not fire? Didn't I show you before that it's the superior element?"

"Well, yeah, but come on, think about it, all the stuff you can make out of rocks using just your mind! Statues, tools, houses, weapons..."

"That's just the trouble with it. Earthbenders never make anything interesting. They throw up a square stone cave and call it a house. Ba Sing Se might be big, but that's all it is. The architecture is boring. And before you mention those silly slides in Omashu, keep in mind they've been that way for hundreds of years. No innovation."

He pursed his lips. "Interesting. Wrong, but interesting."

"Wrong am I? Who built the drill that would have bored through Ba Sing Se's walls had not certain people interfered? Who built the war balloons, the tundra tanks?"

"Firebenders built them, but I'm pretty sure the Mechanist designed them. I helped design the war balloon, you know. I'm kinda the father of modern flight technology."

"Because you're full of hot air?"

He grinned. "You stole that joke from me, princess."

"I tell it better," she said. "So if you could bend anything, you'd bend rocks?"

"I wouldn't mind being able to bend everything," Sokka said. "Except I wouldn't want to be the avatar. It looked like too much trouble even before monsters from beyond space and time started causing trouble. What about you? What element would you bend if you couldn't bend fire?"

"I wouldn't bother bending," she said, crossing her arms and leaning against the gunwale.

"No, come on," he said, nudging her. "You gotta have a second favorite element."

She seemed to think a moment, then with a hint of surprise in her own voice she said, "Air."

"Air? I didn't expect to hear that one. Nobody picks air."

"Spotting potential isn't a common skill," she said. "Air is all around us, so I'd never be cut off from it. Air can also move the other elements, so it's almost like having all the other bending powers in one if you're good enough. Plus, we need it to live."

Sokka cocked his eyebrow. "Oh?"

"To breathe, dummy," she said.

"I know that, I just don't see what that does for a bender. I guess you could take an air bubble underwater with you, but I think you'd just be blowing water around."

She smirked and came off the gunwale, planting her hands on his chest. "If I could bend air, I'd learn to rip it straight from my enemy's lungs and leave him gasping at my feet. Provided I pulled it up from his mouth and not straight out of his chest."

Sokka felt his skin tingle and he fought the urge to step back from her. -She's just joking. She can't bend air, anyway,- he thought.

"That's pretty harsh," he said. "I don't think it would work, though."

"Who knows? All the Air Nomads are gone and the only one left wouldn't have the stomach to develop the technique," Azula said wistfully. "Maybe you're right. For a while I fiddled with trying to make bodies burst into flame by looking at them...Relax, I used animal corpses. Mother put an end to those experiments, and for once father took her side against me."

"There's a lot to firebending I didn't know about," he said, waiting for her to start laughing again and feeling nervous when she did not.

"I'm a prodigy, it's my duty to expand our nation's knowledge of the art. I think I've got the principle behind my brother's wretched little lightning deflection technique down, but of course I've had no time to practice it myself."

"He told us about how he learned it," Sokka said, recalling a feast day held at the Fire Nation capital palace in the heady days following the end of the war; days so bright and full of promise that it hurt to think on them now. "He said Iroh taught him, and Iroh learned from watching waterbenders. Maybe you'd invent all kinds of cool tricks if you kept an eye on the other benders?"

She frowned, but did not seem entirely put out. Once again, she took hold of his boomerang. "You're the one who's given me some ideas, actually," she said, pulling away from him, her hand trailing off the hilt of his weapon.

"I...don't know how to take that," he said.

She took several steps back from the gunwale, hooked her arm and bent her body low. She spun around once and threw a crescent-shaped blade of blue fire out over the sea that curved sideways two dozen yards out before vanishing.

"No good," she hissed, and repeated the movement. This time the flaming crescent hooked more sharply, but she was not satisfied.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Can't you tell?" she threw another crescent. "I'm trying to create a fire boomerang."

"Oh. Cool."

He watched her for the better part of an hour and a half. She changed her stance several times, removed the spin from the movement, and got the shape of the fire-boomerang down, but the most she could get it to do was veer off at a right angle and vanish. He covered his mouth and quietly yawned when Azula finally paused to take a break. Covered in sweat, she retied her hair and was about to go at it again when he stopped her.

"Check it out," he said, drawing his boomerang. He threw it over the aft of the ship, hoping an errant wind would not ruin his day. It did not, and the boomerang returned to him to be deftly caught. "It's all in the follow-through, but I'm guessing yours isn't working because it's made of fire and doesn't have, you know, substance."

"It has enough substance to knock you over," she said.

"That would be the chi fueling it that's hitting me," he said. "I think. I don't know. Bending doesn't make any sense."

"Throw your boomerang again," she said.

He did, fearing she would blast it out of the air once it left his hand. It flew as it had before and came back to him.

"I've got it," she said, and threw her latest version of the fire-ang, as Sokka had dubbed it in his head. This time she held the final stance once the fire left her, and let her elbow curve slightly in the direction the flaming crescent was spinning. Slowly, it veered back towards them and grew in strength before being caught by her and dispersed. "Yes!" she shouted in triumph. "I did it! We did it."

Azula embraced him, and rather than feel awkward he was simply happy. "Can we call it the fire-ang?" he asked.

"Only if you say it quietly," she said.

"I was gonna suggest boom-a-flame, but that goes better with those exploding fireballs you do."

"Never call my exploding fireballs boom-a-flames," she said flatly.

"Never," he said, as a light rain began to fall, mixing with the ocean spray.

Azula turned her face up and let the rain hit it, her cheeks flush from her exertions. "Now let's go back to our quarters," she said. "Unless you think we have something more to talk about?"

"No, I'm good," he said, as she led him away by the hand.


	20. The Lost and the Found

When they sighted the estuary that bordered the outermost reaches of the Foggy Bottom Swamp, a deep sense of dread overcame Sokka, one he was not able to disguise from anyone much less Azula. As it happened, she was the only one who cared to say anything to him about it and she waited until he was rowing their small life boat up a reed choked stream to speak.

"What's your problem now? Is that thing in your mind talking again?" she asked after she completed a triple check of their supplies.

"No. It's been pretty quiet, actually. I'm just worried something bad is going to happen, you know?"

"Something bad is always going to happen," she said.

"I know, that's just it! We went to the Northern Water Tribe and almost got sacrificed. We went to find June and found out bounties had been put out on us. We found the great library and it was full of monsters. The swamp, more monsters. Oh, a village? Monsters. Escape to the sea, oh look it's the biggest monster ever. It never ends with the monsters."

She shook her head as he spoke, but was now watching the reeds with increased interest and looking to the sky more often.

Their boat ride into the swamp was uneventful. Even so, his fear was growing heavier like a cloak being steadily soaked by rain. As he paddled doggedly down the river and looked into the swirling mists that filled the dim space between the trees, he could see Azula was growing more uneasy.

"Oh man, something is going to happen," he whispered. "I can feel it."

"Your paranoia is infectious," she said.

"Ha, I knew it!" he hissed loudly. "You're scared, too, that means we're in for it!"

Her glare made him row faster and quieter.

The village was easy to find for it was near the giant banyan tree that loomed over the swamp and could be seen from nearly all parts of it, provided one could find a spot to peek through the thick canopy. The smell of burned thatch was faint and damp, which told Sokka they had to be close.

"No. No way. This isn't happening," he said, halting the boat by digging the pole into the river bed.

"What the..." Azula said, sounding as bemused as Sokka was terrified.

The huts that had been partially rebuilt by the swamp folk were now gobs of black tar. Some of it appeared wet, but most had calcified. The ground was covered in the same substance and there were piles of black tar about the size of a human body that made Sokka's skin prickle and sweat. He took a whiff of the air, but all he could smell was the wet, fetid swamp. "It doesn't look like shoggoths," he said.

"No, it doesn't," she said with disgust. "Give it a jab with the pole."

The boat pole told him one of the black lumps was rough and leathery in texture, and seemingly hollow. Using the sharp part of his boomerang, he proceeded to cut it open. "Uh...?"

It was empty, like the bubbles on a piece of flatbread that had been left to bake too long. He noticed a large hole at one end where whatever had been inside, if there had been anything at all, escaped.

"Let's just find the bison and leave," Azula said, walking towards the grove where Appa had spent much of his time.

Sokka's stomach was tight as he followed her, but he kept silent, knowing if he vomited or so much as moaned he might slip into a full break-down. The feeling did not leave him, even when they saw Appa's grove was untouched by the black ooze.

"We should leave, now," Azula said, for there was no sign of Appa.

"No. Let's check the giant tree, maybe they took shelter there like the last time."

He started towards the giant banyan tree, going through the transformed village while Azula followed behind. Before long they broke into a run and just as they did, the trees around the village, which were coated in long, black streamers began to rustle.

"Faster!" he shouted, now sprinting as the strange, flying beasts that had plagued them since leaving the Fire Nation came sloughing out of the trees, flapping heavily in the air.

They had a vaguely humanoid shape to them now, but still bore strange appendages that defied classification. Azula let loose with a lightning bolt and cried out in anger, making Sokka turn.

He saw the lightning had been caught in the flock of star-spawn like brilliant garland. Their bizarre limbs all twisted in unison, concentrating the lightning on the creature in the center of their tight formation.

Azula screamed in surprise when the bolt came flying back at her. She let it travel down her arm and into what looked like her stomach before sending it into a tree, catching it and the gunk that coated it on fire.

-Guess she figured out the redirection trick.- It was the only clear thought he had.

He was running as fast as he could, trusting she was behind him. When he saw her next to him, he was alarmed to see how terrified she was at having her greatest weapon not only rendered useless, but turned against her. The feeling was contagious Sokka and found himself unable to think coherently as he raced towards the giant tree filled with only the hope that some kind of safety awaited them.

"Try fire, try fire!" he shouted.

She preformed a panicked pirouette and sprayed the monsters with an arc of blue flame. They showed no sign of being affected, but Sokka noted each appeared wet, as if coated in fresh, black ooze.

The banyan tree towered before them as they ran up the colossal root that served as a road to the base of the trunk. There were no signs of life at the tree, and so Sokka turned to face the flying monsters, not wanting to be pressed against the giant trunk just yet. There were dozens of them and more had come flapping up from behind. Their grotesque forms fought to stay airborne as they dripped with strange limbs and fluids.

"Let's try to do some damage then hit the water!" Sokka shouted.

Azula was throwing fireballs and scoring hits, but the dripping ooze the creatures were covered in only sizzled and smoked without catching. Sokka knew that once he threw his boomerang he was not likely to see it again, and so it remained clutched in his fist. Above him, he heard the banyan leaves shake. He expected to see a flock of the monsters come tumbling down, but his heart felt like it would burst with joy when he saw Appa's wide face.

The bison bellowed like a foghorn as he descended. He turned before landing, flapping his tail and sending a great gust of air at the monsters, pushing them back. Sokka and Azula did not hesitate to jump onto his saddle where all they could do was hold on and let Appa do what he did best.

Appa rose high into the banyan tree and the humans on his back ducked while a storm of branches and leaves raged about them. Appa broke free on the other side and gained altitude, leaving the sluggish flying monsters behind.

-They must be different. They can't fly as well as the others,- Sokka thought.

Appa flew them over the sea while they got their wits collected. Azula minded Appa's rear, keeping an eye out for their pursuers, but seeing none she settled into the saddle.

"They sent my own lightning back at me," she said. "And that goo they were coated in made them all but immune to my fire."

"They couldn't fly as good as before," he said.

"How long before they can fly well and ignore my bending?"

"I don't know!" he shouted, clasping his head and curling into a ball where he had to grit his teeth to fight back tears of rage. "All those people...those pods..."

She touched his shoulders and he began sobbing. He hid his face from her, and she let him do so but did not leave him as he let his anger and grief pour out.

"It's not your fault," she kept saying. Sokka was not entirely aware of his own words, only that it was indeed all his fault. Somehow.

"You can't blame yourself. They knew they were in danger. It was..."

"Stop! Just stop talking," he said, choking himself back into shape. He sat up and rubbed his face, and without looking could tell she was angry.

"Sorry," he said, his voice under control. "You're right, but I still feel responsible."

Her hand on his arm allowed him to look at her, and what he saw on her face was better than he expected. "They seemed like decent enough people," she said, searching him for clues. "We'll avenge them."

A cold wind was blowing over them as the sea passed below Appa's feet. Sokka nodded, and squeezed her hand, surprised by the level of empathy she had mustered. "Yeah, we will," he said, considering for a moment going back to snag the supplies they had brought. Deciding it was not worth the risk, he went to Appa's reins and steered him north where he began to look for a good spot to land so they could gather food and refill the two water skins they carried between them.

-888-

It was close to nightfall when Appa landed on an island that looked promising for fresh water and food. Appa had shown no signs of injury as he flew, and had seemed keen to be free of the banyan tree's branches. When he landed, however, Sokka thought he would drain the freshwater pool they found all on his own. Apparently he had been eating banyan leaves for however long he had been hiding, and so his appetite was not so fierce. Sokka and Azula were another story. Both were parched to the point where it hurt them to speak, but their bodies had not weakened and so it was a simple matter of finding a melon apple tree that took care of their hunger and thirst.

They spent the night sleeping in Appa's saddle, each dozing off for a few hours while the other remained alert, ready to rouse Appa at the first sign of trouble. Sokka did not know if he slept. Whether his eyes were closed or he was staring into the darkness he could still make out the human lines in the monster's chaotic bodies.

When the sky began to lighten and it was time to wake Azula, he stayed up and watched her sleep. The light of day slowly grew around her and when she began to stir he woke her. Appa was led to the pool where he drank, and Sokka tossed two dozen melon apples into his mouth while Azula collected more for their journey.

They had been in the air a few hours when Azula joined him on the back of Appa's neck. "If we head west, perhaps we'll spot the ship. We are not well supplied for this mission anymore."

He did not care if she heard him growl. This discussion had been had already.

"I keep telling you, we're on a tight schedule, the sea is big even from the air. If we don't find them in time, they won't have the benefit of our distraction, and if Zuko figures out we've got a working sub, we're going to be in a lot of trouble. We've got food, we can get water, and we know where we're going. We can get this done, we just won't be comfortable doing it."

He hated this argument, for he knew finding Piandao and the others would be ideal for them, but not if it meant spending days searching. He did not want to remind her that Zuko might already know about the sub, he simply wanted the plan followed.

"So, Plan-boy, you've neglected to tell me exactly how you plan to get my uncle out of the asylum? Disguises, I presume?"

He shook his head and grinned. "Nope. We're going to fly into the courtyard in the early morning, fight our way to his cell, and bust him out as noisily as we can. Hopefully he'll be healthy enough to lend us a hand."

Sokka expected an argument, but got a low chuckle of approval instead. "Morning attacks are so underrated. You have fine taste, Sokka." She trailed her fingers up the back of his neck. "Plus they'll see it's only two of us, so maybe Zuko will think we've lost your sister and the scholar."

"Exactly," he said, arching his neck.

On Appa, it would take them three days to reach the asylum; Sokka wished to land him on a small island within sight of it the night before their attack. Without a map this was difficult, as he had to rely on the stars and Azula's memory of her homeland's geography to guide them in the general direction.

Two uneasy days went by, as they were not certain of their course. On the third day they cited a harbor that could only be the one ruined by the tsunami that had struck when the Old One's brought their island up from the sea. It still puzzled him as to why they had done that. Perhaps their city was deeper than he thought, far down enough where their bodies could not stand the pressure, but since they did not appear to be coming back soon of their own accord he paid little mind to the question.

They flew high and used what few clouds there were as cover. The growth of the airship industry meant more eyes were on the skies than ever before, which he was wary of the closer they came. The sun was beginning to set over the glittering water when they spied both the asylum and the rocky island he planned to stage from. Appa knew his business better than Sokka, and he dove hard for the rock at a steep angle, stopping a mere few feet from the sharp stones and barnacles.

"And now we wait," Sokka shouted as the sea crashed and churned behind him while gulls cried out over being intruded upon.

It became, physically, the most miserable portion of the journey. They were closer to the stinking, wet sea than Sokka had envisioned, and their apprehension made time stretch out, lengthening the day and night so that they seemed longer than the previous ones. Sokka thought he might go mad thinking about the Foggy Bottom Swamp and listening to Appa and Azula complain, but he kept running over his plan in his head, convincing himself it was sound.

He must have fallen asleep, for he was startled when Azula shook him.

"It's time," she said, waiting until he rose from the uncomfortable cleft he had found in the rock before she climbed onto Appa's back.

"Let's give it a few more minutes," he said, looking out over the gray water to the horizon.

"Then sun will be up soon."

"Alright, let's go. Appa, Yip-yip!"

The bison flew straight up, making a high arc towards the asylum's stone walls. Sokka noted that there were more guards posted, likely because Zuko had feared someone would attempt to break Iroh out before now.

Appa landed hard in the center courtyard, sending out a gust of air that knocked what few people were out doing the morning chores off their feet. His passengers jumped to the ground and wasted no time rushing the front door, which Azula blew into charred splinters with a bolt of lightning. It was too late to ask her not to murder anyone, and Sokka only hoped she would show proper restraint, recalling how she claimed to have been treated while here, he resigned himself to the fact someone was going to get hurt.

They ran down a stone hallway where they were confronted by two asylum guards. They carried clubs and were well-practiced at subduing patients, which made them hard to take down initially but Azula's ferocity and firebending prowess tipped the balance.

Sokka took a club off one of the unconscious guards, wanting a weapon he could use freely without worrying about causing fatal lacerations.

In the hallway that led down to Azula's old cell, where they hoped to find her uncle, they encountered a larger knot of guards. These men wore armor and carried blades. Six in number, they gave Sokka hope they were on the right track and that Iroh was not in some other part of the building.

Azula displayed her natural agility by leaping against the wall and propelling a sideways kick towards the lead guard. Her heel caught him beside the head, and despite his helmet he fell in a heap. She did not stop to let them admire her form and when she landed she hit them with short jets of blue flame.

One of the men was a firebender, which worked to his disadvantage. The orange streak he sent at Azula was caught, folded, and sent back at him, hotter and harder. His arms came up in time to save his face and chest, but behind the fire bolt was Azula, who pulled his arms apart and dealt a savage, flaming kick to his stomach.

Sokka ran past the two guards, who were still relatively unscathed, and focused on bashing apart the lock on the door. He knew the guards would turn their attention to him, taking their eyes off the real threat and by the sounds of their screams he knew he had been right.

The door opened and Sokka turned to wave Azula through. All six men were down. "Is there another way out, 'cause this hall is going to be stuffed with guys when we come back," he said.

"W-wait," said one of the guards before Azula could respond. He pulled off his helmet and spit blood onto the stone floor.

"Missed one," Azula said, her hand igniting as she turned to him.

"No! Please! G-general Iroh, he's not down there. He was moved to one of the tower cells..."

Sokka felt cold, despite the hall being quite warm from the fire-play. "Which one?" he asked.

"He's lying," said Azula.

"Hang on." Sokka thought if this were a lie, it would be rather inspired one for a guard to make. Few appreciated the tactical advantage of confusion. "Where did they move him? Why?"

"Why would he tell us if he wasn't lying?" said Azula.

"I'm not lying!" shouted the guard. "I served under Prince Zuko during his exile, along with General Iroh. We had the chance to talk here...I believe what he says...about the Fire Lord."

"Tell us what you know," Sokka said after quickly exchanging glances with Azula.

"He was moved a few days ago. We weren't told why exactly, but Healer Bin seemed to have something to do with it."

"Bin," Azula snarled. "Get up. Give me your blade." She held the point of the weapon to his back once he was on his feet. "Take us to my uncle, now."

"I-I'm helping you!" he said.

"Then help me by fearing for your life and hoping your fellow guards value it more than I do," she said, prodding the man along at sword point.

Back in the courtyard a troop of guards had learned Appa was not a creature to be subdued easily. They had tried to lash him down with ropes, but nothing they had could do the job. When they saw Azula and her hostage they halted. Sokka waved at Appa to calm him and the bison roared.

"Weapons down, now!" Azula shouted. No one obeyed, but neither did they attack.

"We're not here to hurt anyone," Sokka called out. "Nobody do anything crazy and everyone goes home today, okay?"

"L-listen to them!" the hostage shouted. "It's princess Azula! You know what she's capable of!"

Sokka could tell from the men's faces that they had guessed Azula's identity without the guard's help, but having it confirmed made their fear blossom. Azula pricked the hostage, making him yelp. "Shut up. Let's go, now."

The tower entrance was on the other side of a wall, in another courtyard. Two men stood at the heavy door, where the entire procession stopped. Both Sokka and Azula guessed this might be as far as their hostage ploy would take them.

Neither expected to see Healer Bin come running into the courtyard like a heron trying not to trip.

"Let them through, let them through!" she cried. "Do it now, or that man's blood is on your hands!"

The two guards moved aside as Bin produced a set of keys. She led the way into the tower, which stood empty besides a wooden spiral staircase. Sokka shut the door, and saw Bin had already started up the stairs.

"Bin!" Azula shouted. "Get over here, now!"

"I'm helping you!" Bin whispered, eying the man held at sword point.

"I'm helping, too!" he said.

Sokka exchanged a bemused look with Azula and nodded for them all to go up the stairs.

"I've examined General Iroh thoroughly since he was brought here," said Bin. "I could tell early on he wasn't suffering from any sort of madness, and when he calmed down he told me some of what has been going on. He also told me about something to look for when I saw the Fire Lord, and I must say his story made sense after that."

"We'd love to explain the rest, but we're on a tight schedule," said Sokka, now wishing one of them had remained in the courtyard to ensure Appa's safety.

"I was expecting Piandao or someone to come via ship, not sky bison," said Bin, her breath shortening. "Your timing is terrible."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked as they ran.

"We don't care," said Azula. "You had best hope there isn't a window big enough to throw you out of when we reach the top of this tower!"

Bin cast a worried glance behind her and Sokka gave her a weak, reassuring smile, hoping Azula would not see it.

Iroh was locked in a simple cage with a bed, chamber pot, and stool. He looked more worn and pale than Sokka had ever seen him, but his heavy yellow eyes perked with interest at the commotion.

"Han, my friend," he said upon recognizing the hostage. When the full retinue moved closer his drawn face widened in surprise and elation. "Well, this was unexpected."

"Good to see you, old man," said Sokka. "We're bustin' ya out!"

Bin unlocked Iroh's cell, and he and Sokka hugged.

"What is going on? My nephew..."

"We can explain everything, just not now," Sokka said.

"Not that you'll feel any better after we do," said Azula, not looking at her uncle, but to the door.

The silence lasted several seconds and ended with Sokka clapping his hands and ushering them all down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Sokka took Bin by the shoulder. "We're going to take you hostage, too, just until we get to Appa."

She nodded. "You need to hurry then. He's due shortly."

"Who?"

Azula kicked the door open and forced Han through, into the tower courtyard where more guards had arrived. With Bin seemingly in Sokka's clutches, they remained subdued and parted to allow the hostages and hostage takers pass.

Appa had not gone anywhere and the men surrounding him had not come up with a plan to deal with him yet. Sokka only had eyes for the bison, but his head turned sharply upon hearing Iroh and Azula gasp in unison.

A wall of komodo rhinos flanked by heavily armed soldiers had come into the courtyard to form a wall between Appa and the gate. The komodo rhinos were adorned with black and red leather blinders. Their saddles were gilded, and each bore a banner pole flying the Royal Fire Nation emblem. Atop the center komodo rhino was Zuko. On one of the beasts beside him, with a guard, was Suzi, whose arms had been tied behind her back.

Zuko smiled triumphantly, but Sokka could not help but note that a few of his men seemed genuinely surprised to see the Avatar's bison and the famous fugitives. "Seize them! Before they reach the sky bison!" Zuko shouted, pointing.

The wall of steel-clad komodo rhinos surged forward. Azula threw up a wall of blue fire, while Iroh shouted for Zuko.

Sokka's hand on Iroh's shoulder stopped him from rushing to his nephew but not his pained cry.

"Run back to the other courtyard and do what you can to keep the other guards there!" Sokka shouted to Bin, who with Han ran back the way they had come. Appa, frightened by the flames, had reared up on his back four feet, preventing Sokka from gaining his saddle. More fire was coming towards them, and Azula and Iroh did a fair job of stopping most of the attacks with rapid counters of their own.

Sokka jumped onto the side of Appa's head and hung onto one of his horns when he came down on all six legs. "Appa, charge!" he shouted, knowing they would be defenseless from below if Appa rose directly from the courtyard. At least on the ground his thick fur would offer some protection.

While panicked, Appa trusted and understood Sokka enough to do roughly what he asked. Appa headed straight for the line of komodo rhinos and soldiers, a move the group had not been anticipating. Even so, they were Royal Fire Guard and did not cower easily. Appa collided with Zuko's rhino, the beast's long nose horn dug wickedly into Appa's neck, but his fur and loose, tough hide did what it was supposed to and kept the wound from being mortal.

The world around Sokka became a sea of crashing metal, bodies, and fire. Foot soldiers reached to pull him off Appa, but Sokka had hooked his arm into the reins and swung at their hands with his boomerang. Their spears nearly skewered him several times, but his constant moving made him a hard target to pin.

He tried to angle Appa towards Suzi, but the men and beasts around them made Appa's only option to keep plowing forward. Luckily, even the komodo rhinos of the Royal Fire Guard were only half Appa's size, but if Appa's bellowing was any indication their horns were doing savage work.

"Suzi!" Sokka shouted. She was trying not to fall off her komodo rhino as the guard who held her attempted to control both it, and her. It proved too much for him to do at once, and with a swing of her head Suzi caught him in the face and knocked him off.

With her hands bound, Suzi had a job staying on the beast's back as it bucked. Despite looking uncannily like Azula, she had none of the princess' grace or fighting experience, and so she was only able to hold on desperately to the saddle with her legs.

Thinking this hostage strategy had been working for them rather well, Sokka jumped from Appa onto the front of Zuko's komodo rhino, behind its wicked horns. -Guess now I'll find out if he can bend,- thought Sokka, charging the Fire Lord with the intention of pinning him in his saddle.

When a gout of flames erupted from Zuko's hands, Sokka shrieked and covered his face, plowing through the weak cloud of heat and into his target. Sokka failed to knock him back, but found one of Zuko's hands grasping as his face, pulling at his nose and cheeks, likely to distract Sokka from what his other hand was doing.

The blade would have found Sokka's belly had his boomerang not come down on Zuko's wrist, stunning it and making the blade fall. As he grappled with Zuko, he was surprised to see Suzi flop onto the saddle behind him. Still bound, it seemed she had managed to stand and jump from her bucking komodo rhino, a graceless move that was still effective.

The false Zuko made up for his lack of firebending and fighting skill with a kind of viciousness Sokka had never encountered in an enemy before. He knew about soft spots on Sokka's body that Sokka himself had not been aware of until they were punched or clawed at. Furthermore, the false Zuko had no regard for his own pain and suffering, making his body a pure instrument of torment.

Sokka, meanwhile, was hampered by his desire to not to hurt his friend, or send him to the ground to be trampled to death.

When Zuko's hands finally latched themselves around Sokka's throat, he thought his windpipe was soon to be crushed, but Suzi surprised him again. She had been tied at the wrists, and slipped them beneath her feet so her hands were now in front of her. She balled them into fists and struck Zuko hard in the back of the head, then hooked her bindings around his face. He relax his grip on Sokka for an instant, which was all that was needed for the hold to be broken. Sokka brought the handle of his boomerang down onto the top of Zuko's head, knocking him unconscious.

Making sure Zuko would not fall from the saddle, Sokka leaned over his limp form and used the sharp part of his boomerang to cut Suzi's bonds. "Get on Appa, quick!" he shouted.

With her hands free, Suzi proved more nimble than she had before, and jumped from the back of komodo rhino to komodo rhino, reaching Appa's saddle while Sokka tried to get good enough footing to hoist Zuko onto his shoulder. His fantasies about kidnapping Zuko were soon dashed as fire made the komodo rhino rear up and dump them both on the stone courtyard.

A great deal of fire was being thrown around, most of it blue. Despite their zeal and the fact they were protecting the Fire Lord himself, the Royal Fire Guard were no match for the combined powers of Azula and Iroh, the Dragon of the West. Still, they fought with everything they had, and Sokka had to do some quick boomerang work to keep from being grabbed. They dared not throw fire at him while he stood over Zuko's limp form.

All the chaos stopped momentarily when Appa let out a massive roar. Sokka thought the bison had finally taken a fatal goring, but he had simply had enough of being jabbed by the komodo rhino horns. A powerful gust of air put the Fire Nation soldiers off their feet. When two komodo rhinos parted, Sokka could see Azula and Iroh were close enough to Appa to climb aboard, but Iroh was running towards him.

Sokka rolled a groaning Zuko onto his back and started to pick him up when his amber eyes shot open. They rolled around madly before fixing themselves on the face before them. "Sokka!" Zuko said. "S-Sokka, what's happening!?"

It was him. It was Zuko. It was over, at least in part. He could call the Fire Nation off and they would have the entire country's support now. The world's, even.

That was all gone in an instant. Zuko blinked stiffly, and his face contorted in rage. He put his foot under Sokka and kicked him backward at the same time half a dozen men found their footing and rushed to him. Now that they did not fear burning their Fire Lord, the heat was on Sokka who scrambled towards Appa as fast as he could, only to be knocked over by a powerful fireball that hit him in the back.

Iroh was shouting, as was Azula. Appa bellowed once more, but no gust of air came. "Get to Appa!" Sokka shouted, crawling to his feet, his back stinging. "Go! Now! It's not Zuko! It's not Zuko!"

With a wail Sokka would never forget, Iroh was pulled to Appa by his niece, who had roughly seized him by the back of his robe as she hurled fire at their attackers. Before another fireball could hit him, Sokka rose and sprinted to Appa, seeking to leap over the bison's nose so he could reach his reins.

Suzi was ahead of him on that account, and sat on the back of Appa's furry neck as fireballs now began to strike Appa hard, singeing his hair and raising a stink fit to gag even the komodo rhinos. Sokka could not see if Azula and Iroh made it when Appa charged. The bison had a natural sense that his underbelly was weak, and he must have known how thick his skull was when they reached the stone entrance way, which was designed to admit the relatively narrow komodo rhinos, not a full grown sky bison.

His back covered in bricks and powered mortar, Sokka held onto Appa's furry head while his hands flushed white. When it felt like they were flying, he opened his eyes to look up at Suzi. Her finery was dusty and torn, and her pretty face wide and blanched, but when she looked down at him there was a bright smile on her face. "We did it!" she shouted over the roar of the wind.

-888-

It was mid-afternoon before Azula spied a suitable landing place and brought Appa down. She had volunteered to fly Appa, leaving explanations and information swapping up to Sokka, who held off about what he had observed in his fight with Zuko.

Sokka was getting good at telling his story by now and left little need for questions. As usual, he left out his relationship with Azula, knowing it would come up soon anyway. He turned red thinking about it, wondering how Suzi would react. Given everything else he told them about the world's impending end, he hoped his love life would be overlooked.

The island Azula had seen was small, yet dense with trees. Nuts and berries supplemented their melon apple meals, and the hollowed-out melon apple rinds made suitable cups for the fresh water they found. Sokka checked over Appa and found he had been gored in several places. Blood matted his white hair along his flanks, but it was not as bad as it looked and seemed to be nothing the bison could not cure by licking.

"Sorry, big guy. I wanted to keep you safe, but I botched it, didn't I?" he said, patting Appa's nose. The bison grunted.

"He'd do anything to save his friend," said Iroh, who had also looked Appa over.

Sokka nodded, and after a short silence apologized for leaving Zuko, then decided to tell Iroh about what he had seen when Zuko regained his senses. He feared the old man would be angry, or worse, but was relieved as his sad smile.

"Then there's hope," Iroh said, his voice like gravel. "I knew there was hope."

"There's hope for them all. We need to keep heading east for another day, and make sure we're seen at a major village somewhere before we head south. I want Zuko...that thing, thinking we're heading towards Ba Sing Se or Omashu."

Suzi joined them and he told them both what they were planning as far as stealing a submarine.

"It's pretty lucky you showed up when you did," said Sokka to Suzi. "We would have had to think about rescuing you at some point."

"He was taking me there to be tortured," said Suzi, wrapping her arms around herself tight.

"We'll, you're safe now. You think your mom will be okay?"

"Yeah, after your bounties went out I sent her a letter. She should be okay."

Suzi went to the spring they had bivouacked near, where she sat on a rock across from Azula. The two did a fine job of starring at one another without making it look like they were doing so.

"You can tell the difference when they're together, but apart..." said Iroh, shaking his head. "I'm glad they're both safe. How has she been?"

Sokka could tell Azula was listening. "Uh, great. Look, there's something you should probably know. It's not a big deal, but I didn't want it to be a surprise later."

He told him about himself and Azula, leaving out some of the more intimate details. Iroh wore a look of supreme bemusement that threatened to darken, but once Sokka was done the old man's face broke and he roared with laughter. "Young people!" he said, shaking his head and clapping Sokka on the back. "You have my blessing, for what that's worth."

"Blessing? Oh, uh, I don't know if it's like that kind of thing...what with the m...yeah."

"Oh, so you're just fooling around? Using her?" Now Iroh's eyes were steel, and he brought his face in close. Sokka froze, as terrified as he had ever been. He turned to jelly when Iroh laughed once more. "I'd tell you to treat her right or else, but you're the one I'm worried for," this he said in a low voice.

Sokka did not dare nod.

They all went over to the bivouac where they ate melon apples and drank water in silence.

"Uncle, where are my manners?" said Azula finally. "It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Locked up, again," Iroh said. "I can't say I missed it."

"I know the feeling," Azula said, her smile wide and false. "I spent three years in the darkest part of that place. Funny, I don't remember you ever visiting."

"They had you drinking a special tea early on, so I doubt you remember me coming by. I stopped because the healers said visitors only upset you."

Something dangerous flashed across Azula's eyes that made both Sokka and Iroh wary.

"How long were you in there, uncle? Long enough to forget what daylight looks like? Your friend mentioned your little chats with him; those must have been nice."

"I'm sorry you were imprisoned, but you left us with little choice," Iroh said sternly. "How many healers have scars now because of you?"

Her lips peeled back into a snarl, prompting Sokka to stand. "Azula! You beat this already. Stop."

She deflated, much to Iroh's surprise and even Suzi's.

"He's right," said Azula, drawing herself up. "They couldn't break me there. Even with that monster whispering in my ear constantly, I didn't break, so you and everyone else can just think about that if you care to."

She stormed off down an animal trail that led through the bushes, leaving the others to let out deep breaths.

"She must be hard to travel with," said Suzi.

Shaking his head, Sokka sat back down. "She was, but she's been through an awful lot in the past few weeks. She's better now. Sometimes stuff sets her off, though. Also, we're dating."

"What?"

"Azula and me. We're a couple. A lot of things happened, we..."

"Congratulations," said Suzi, sipping water from her melon apple.

"Eh, thanks," said Sokka. "And thanks for pretending to be her. If I had known it would end up being so dangerous I never would have asked."

The thought of Nekka suddenly pained him, and he wondered how his sister and Piandao were faring.

"Don't mention it," Suzi said, warming a little. "My father was a soldier who served his country, and I was happy to do the same."

"Well, we'll be headed pretty far south soon, and it might take a few days to get the submarine repaired. It might be a good idea if we actually did fly you to the Southern Water Tribe. Gran Gran would love to meet you."

She cocked her eyebrow. "You expect me to bake snow cookies with your gran gran while you fight to save the world? Sokka..."

"Say no more," he said, holding his hands up. "I had to suggest it for your mother's sake."

This caused her to smile, which prompted him to stand and ask their pardon while he went to find Azula. They had to be going soon, but he wanted Appa to have more time to rest and so he did not rush down the trail. He found Azula sulking on a rock, but she looked pleased to see him.

"We came out a little raw, but otherwise I think my plan went perfectly," he said, stepping close to her.

She touched his neck and kissed him. "I'm naturally lucky," she said. "And that girl is lucky Zuko brought her when he did."

"I'll say," said Sokka. "I don't think we could have pulled the same stunt at the Royal City."

"I should have challenged Zuko to an Agni Kai right there," she said. "His bending was weak, did you notice?"

"That answers one of our questions, at least," he said, pulling her closer to him and letting his cheek brush against hers. "We shouldn't have to fight any of our friends, at least not for a bit. All we need to do now is make a little more noise, throw them off the scent, and let Katara do her thing."

Azula opened her mouth to say something, but Sokka doubted it was anything positive and so he kissed her. She returned it, her comment forgotten.


	21. The Black Violin and a Lightning Show

The submarine broke above the water a bare six inches, making it look like a basking whale to anyone spying it from afar, or so the Mechanist said. "If we dove any farther," he told Katara, "we'd be sinking!"

Piandao had left his ship in command of his first mate, while he and a handful of his best men took to the submarine as it sailed slowly north towards the dockyard warehouse where they planned to blend in with the workers and complete their mission.

Before he left, Sokka had drawn a map of the yard using what Piandao remembered of it, which was little as the man had never actually been there; he had only learned of the subs being there through his contacts in the navy. Sokka had not let this deter him, as he outlined their entire plan for them, complete with exactly how to go about detaching the ballast tanks and other parts the Mechanist said he needed, assuming they could not simply steal the entire thing.

After Sokka was gone and their voyage underway, Katara had been studying the map, glaring at it darkly when Piandao loomed over her.

"I'm proud of Sokka, and he's a brilliant strategist, but..." Piandao folded the map and tucked it into his sleeve. "He still has much to learn."

"I just hope he learns it before he gets hurt," she said.

They were in a war room, which the Mechanist preferred to call a "conference chamber," that was lit by soft, white light from glass tubes. Piandao was about to leave, but took a seat. "I don't know Princess Azula very well, only what I've heard from other people and Prince...Fire Lord Zuko."

Embarrassed that she had been so readable, Katara folded her hands and let her lips part for a moment before speaking. "I just don't know what to think," she said. "Azula is a genuinely horrible person. So she can act normal when she has to, big deal. It's like he's blind or something."

Piandao sat as though he were the picture of wisdom and sagacity but his brow betrayed him. Bravely, he remained seated. "Strong feelings can produce blind spots," he said. "But they can also make a person see more clearly."

"You think he's messed up, too, don't you?" Katara asked, smiling when she saw a faint nod.

"I won't argue with you over Princess Azula's character, but from what little I know she's more complicated than one might think. Not to say she doesn't possess some serious flaws," Piandao said, holding up his palms to stem her objections. "I don't think you have to worry about losing your brother, though. He's made some mistakes, but he made them for the right reasons."

She was wishing he had followed his first instinct and left, for she did not feel like debating the man. "He made them because he thought we'd think he was crazy. Maybe not at first, but the fact is when Aang was kidnapped he knew something was wrong and didn't tell us anything. Why didn't he think he could confide in us?"

Again, Piandao seemed to be searching for an answer. "Sokka is a very loyal person, perhaps he felt he had betrayed you with his silence and couldn't bear to face what he imagined the consequences might be. Perhaps that same loyalty is what laid the groundwork for his bond with Azula."

"Then it's misplaced."

Piandao's hand covered his mouth, and she could not tell if he was smiling or had pursed his lips in consternation. "I gathered this much over the years about the princess. She's many things, cunning, ruthless, power-hungry, but surprisingly quite loyal."

"Loyal? Azula? She tried to kill her own brother how many times? She had her friends thrown in prison when they stopped her from murdering him...along with Sokka and Suki, in case anyone's counting."

Piandao's hands went up again. "I know, I'm on your side here, all I'm saying is that if she were truly manipulating Sokka I think he would be able to tell."

With an important task before her, she was in no mood to dwell on her brother's love life, and so she stood up respectfully and bowed to Piandao. "Zuko once told us that the only way to deal with Azula was to assume every word she said was a lie, because there was no way to sort them from the truth. You're right, Azula is loyal, loyal to herself. I just hope someone who he still listens to points that out to him before it's too late."

"You're worried about the Avatar," said Piandao, before she could leave.

"Of course I am! He's not just the avatar to me, you know."

"I meant no offense," said Piandao. "I merely meant to suggest you have a lot to worry about, so perhaps worrying over Sokka is best left to others for now. He'll have his hands full when your friends are safe again."

"Yeah. Thanks, Piandao," she put her hand on his shoulder before she left and felt his relief.

Over the next few days she learned Piandao had been wrong about where her concerns should be placed. Stewing over Sokka and Azula had been a much needed balm for the maddening agony she felt over Aang. Thinking about him and where he might be was a torment she could not bear, and it made her mind go to places she knew were dangerous, places where she thought perhaps she could use her bending to keep the constant, crushing pressure of the deep ocean at bay.

The days passed and finally Katara stood in the hatch room of the sub with Piandao and his six men. Piandao had forgone Sokka's elaborate scheme, saying it would likely fall apart once they arrived at the warehouse and so improvising was best.

Her first trial was getting them to shore without being seen. An empty stretch of beach had been sighted near the dockyard which Katara propelled them towards in a low-bottomed boat. They wore Fire Nation soldier uniforms with partial face covers, figuring the full masks would appear too suspicious.

It was late afternoon when they arrived on the beach. No one had seen them, and there were no footprints in the sand, which told them it was not a frequently trafficked area. "Remember, act like you have every right to be here and no one will give you a second look," Piandao said.

Katara nodded. In some ways, her job was easy. It was Piandao, with his military experience, who would be handling most of the bluffing. All Katara had to do was pilot the primitive submarine and use her bending to fight if need be.

The dockyard served as a small emergency repair port and scrapping facility. The largest section was the warehouse which held small, unused craft that were otherwise serviceable. According to Piandao, there were many such facilities in the Fire Nation islands.

A road of hard-packed dirt led them from the beach to the dockyard and on it they met a troop of workers, stocky men carrying empty lunch packs and looking weary while smelling of a day's labor. They traded polite nods with Piandao's sailors and a few gave Katara lingering looks. They were interested, but not suspicious. She did not return their friendliness, thinking they would remember a smile longer than a blank stare.

"Hopefully that wasn't all of them," said Piandao.

"Why's that? Don't we want the place empty?"

"Not when we go in. Us coming late in the day would be unusual, but not suspicious. I can't say the same for after hours. You might want to act a little impatient when we get in, like you'd rather be somewhere else," he said

"Like I've got every right to be there, but don't want to be. Got it."

The warehouse's sea door was closed and bolted. A walkway skirted the massive building and the group followed Piandao onto it and towards the rear. It took them to a large, covered patio where empty work benches sat covered in wood chips and dust. "Sloppy," whispered Piandao. "Hopefully security will be, too."

To get to the work yard they had to go through the warehouse itself. Inside, under the massive roof, it was cooler, but even in the dim light Katara could see a nest of boats crammed together. Near the center, off to one side was the submarines they wanted. It resembled a fish in some respects, mainly the rudders, and Katara could see nothing wrong with it from the outside. She hoped the interior had not been gutted.

"That water isn't deep enough to submerge it," Katara said.

"I know," said Piandao in a low voice, looking over the boats. "There, that's the one we want." He spoke louder, pointing to a wide boat with a short mast behind the submarine.

"Um,"

"That's the boat we need to take that boat over to Hao Island, but it looks like we'll have to move these other ships and that submarine out first." He was speaking loudly, then, at a normal volume, said, "You and Fin here will be aboard the submarine, which you'll discretely submerge and sail away while we handle everything else. Got it?"

"Got it," she said, wondering how he would convince anyone to move so many boats at this hour.

While Katara and Fin remained in the warehouse, Piandao and the others went to the work yard on the other side of the building. Fin wasted no time in getting into the submarine and opening the hatch, but Katara lingered. She could hear Piandao and the others, their voices muted by distance and wooden walls.

There was entirely too much talking for her taste, and there was something about the tone of the words that made her limbs tingle and twitch.

Piandao walked briskly into the room with a group of men behind him. "This works out perfectly," he said, wincing when he saw Katara outside the submarine. "We can get it done more quickly if all of us work together."

Katara thought her heart might stop when she saw Suki and Toph. Suki wore her Kyoshi Warrior armor, while Toph was dressed in a tight fitting Fire Nation ensemble that she would have hated. "What's that man doing?" asked Suki, pointing at Fin.

"Fin's a go-getter," said Piandao. "He doesn't like to wait around.

"Oh, we'll have to winch that one," said one of the dock workers, a foreman most likely. "It's powered by waterbending."

"We just have to burn it," said Toph. "It's not necessary to tow it out."

There was an awkward silence which the things inhabiting stolen bodies seemed oblivious to. "Er, it won't take long to move it, ma'am. It'll be blazing before dark, trust me," said the foreman.

"Hurry up. We may not leave until it's destruction is confirmed, and the Fire Lord doesn't like to be kept waiting," she said.

Dozens of men set to work, including Katara who did her best to remain as close to the submarine at all times. The sea doors were unbolted and opened, and boats began to move.

"Er, may I ask why the Fire Lord wants this thing destroyed?" the dock foreman wanted to know. "It was supposed to be reverse engineered years ago, but with the war ending, and airships..."

"I understand it was used to attack our great nation," said Suki. "It's a blight and the Fire Lord wants it burned."

Katara turned her face away and smiled. Their lies were so pathetic, it was lucky for them they were only stalling for time so their evil spirit king, or whatever it was, could show up. Still, she hated hearing them speak and wondered if she would ever get a chance to catch the beasts in their true bodies, assuming they even had them. Bloodbending was an evil thing, and she doubted she would ever use it again, but the thought of giving these things some true payback was enjoyable.

The dockyard men were quick and skilled with their work, and soon the way was clear for the sub to be towed. Ropes were tied to it and using a winch near the sea door, it was pulled along quickly then pushed out of the warehouse.

"Now burn it," said Suki.

"Let's get it away from the warehouse and the other boats first," said Piandao. "Do we have any firebenders?"

Half of Piandao's crew were firebenders, but they kept their hands down. Three dock workers raised their hands. "Good, hang tight over there, we'll need you shortly. Ri Lo, make sure there's nothing dangerous inside that thing."

He pointed to Katara when he said "Ri Lo," who dutifully hoped aboard and motioned for Fin to join her.

"What are they doing?" asked Toph.

"They're checking for blasting jelly. The invaders brought quite a lot on the Day of Black Sun, and some of these captured vessels were never thoroughly cleared. There have been accidents before," said Piandao.

Katara was inside the sub as the conversation outside continued. The interior was just as Katara remembered, spacious and simply designed. There was a periscope, and a rudder for steering, but beyond that little else. Everything appeared intact. The only difference from the last time she had been in one was the musty, wet smell that permeated the damp air.

She began moving her arms gently, giving the submarine a discrete push out past the warehouse door. She could sense the water below her was deep enough to hide the craft, but before she could call for Fin to close the hatch, an idea occurred to her. "Fin, we're going to let this thing out a bit farther, then I'm going to sink it," she said.

"Sink it?" he asked.

Fin was older than her, but his face with its perpetually surprised look made him seem much younger. He removed his helmet and blinked at the open hatch.

"When the water comes in, I'll form a bubble around us. You'll swim up the hatch and tell a really good story about how water came pouring in from a leak and you tried to save me, but couldn't. Got it?"

He nodded, a wide smile appearing on his face.

She brought the submarine out by moving the water beneath it, causing the craft to dip and the sea to spill in down the hatch. Once the sub was sinking of its own accord, she switched to keeping herself and Fin from drowning by keeping a bubble around them. When the sub shook from touching the bottom, she gave him the nod and he swam up and out the opening.

Thus she began some of the trickiest bending she had ever preformed. With her concentration fixed and her body fluid, she bent the water out of the submarine while at the same time filling its ballast tanks to keep the craft under water, but off the bottom. This was done so as not to cause any undue ripples on the surface, and once she was only in ankle-deep water, she used her bending to ice over the hatch, which she would close later.

Without knowing how things stood on the surface, she drove the submarine out to sea, past where the ocean dropped off into deep, cold water.

-888-

Appa offered up little complaint besides a few grunts when he took off, alleviating much of Sokka's guilt over making him fly while wounded. The bison sensed they were all battered and torn from their ordeal at the asylum and he was eager to get moving so he could ultimately rest. Perhaps it helped that not all were suffering in silence, Sokka thought, after Azula had taken a short break from what had been constant complaining.

She had seated herself directly behind Sokka on Appa's saddle so she could face her uncle and look-alike, probably with the intention of sizing them up so she could plan her attack. Knowing what she was up to put Sokka in a dark mood, which made him think about his sister all the more.

"So, while you were pretending to be me you didn't touch any of my things, did you? Of course you must have," Azula said, breaking what had been a long, tense silence, one Sokka had hoped would stretch through the afternoon.

"I used what I needed," said Suzi. "Your room was in perfect order when I was dragged out of it."

"I hope you didn't embarrass me," said Azula. "I have a reputation to uphold and when I return, it would be a shame if I had to correct any misconceptions you might have left."

"Meh," said Suzi.

"Meh? I hope you didn't talk like a peasant where anyone could hear you."

"I'm not a peasant," Suzi said, sharply. "My father was an officer in the army and my mother is a noblewoman."

"Strange that I never saw her around the palace," said Azula.

"It wasn't a very welcoming place," said Suzi.

"It's not supposed to be."

"That was the trouble with it."

"It never ends," groaned Sokka.

"Relax, dear, we're just passing the time," said Azula.

"So my I Spy game is the worst thing ever, but this is cool? Yeah, okay, no, that's alright," he muttered. Azula pretended not to hear.

"I'd ask what your problem is with me, but I gather this is normal behavior for you," said Suzi.

"Normal? No, I'm not normally irritated that an imposter has been living my life for weeks on end. You're a reminder that someone," she elbowed Sokka in the back, "didn't trust me very much at one point. But, I forgive him. Just him."

She glared at Iroh, who sat quietly with a stone face and sad eyes. Everyone waited for him to speak, but he remained still. Sokka expected Azula would try to goad him soon, however it seemed she was not done with Suzi.

"So, how did Sokka come to be living with you in the first place?" asked Azula.

"We have a big house and were looking for a tenant when he came to live in the Harbor City for his ambassadorship. Mother took out an ad in one of the market pamphlets."

"How serendipitous," said Azula. "And I'll bet he took one look at you and moved right on in?"

Sokka swallowed hard, remembering the day he had first seen Suzi. He had met her mother at the door, while she was in the kitchen filling the house with the smell of curry. He had been struck dumb upon seeing her face, which now that he thought of it had likely led to a great many false impressions.

"Let's just say a few things make a lot more sense to me now," Suzi said, making Sokka briefly consider falling off Appa and into the sea below.

"Ooh, give us details," said Azula. "What did your mother think?"

Suzi knew she was being needled, and to her credit was not losing her temper. "Oh, she adores Sokka," said Suzi. "I think she wants us to get married."

Sokka felt himself begin to lean ever so slightly to the left as he scanned the skies around him for signs of black shapes too large to be birds. There was nothing aside from glittering water below, clouds above, and a soft haze that blended sky and sea. In the distance there was a long, black strip of land, and he urged Appa to fly faster.

"I bet she does. Sokka's quite a catch. You know, technically he's a prince."

"Really?"

"Isn't that right, Sokka? Your father is the Southern Water Tribe's chief? That makes you a prince, I think."

Sokka cleared his throat. "Er, I guess. We're not really into that kinda thing down south."

"He's modest, too," said Azula. "We used to not get along very well, Sokka and I. In fact, we hated each other with every fiber of our being, didn't we, dear?"

He felt her playing with his wolf's tail, her knuckles stroking the back of his skull, making his nerves dance and jump. "We had some differences," he said.

"Serious differences," Azula said happily. "I thought him and his friends should be in prison or dead, and he disagreed."

"Those are some serious differences," said Suzi.

"It's all in the past now, isn't it, dear?" Azula said, lightly tapping the back of his head.

"Yep. Way back there," he said, giving Appa's reins a jostle so he would fly faster.

"I'm happy to hear it," Suzi said.

"You're the only one, then," said Azula. "His sister hates me, and I doubt his other friends will take kindly to our relationship."

Sokka was trying to remember how to urge Appa into doing a barrel-roll while at the same time thinking of a way to make it look like an accident when he spied them to the north. A line of black shapes, large and growing larger.

"We got company," he said, not as happy to see star-spawn as he imagined he might be. "Appa, yip-yip!"

Appa drew his legs up to increase his speed while Azula and Iroh moved to one side of the saddle and prepared to use their bending. "What are they?" Suzi asked, moving behind Sokka.

"Monsters," said Sokka. "This is what we wanted to happen. It means they're not after Katara and the others."

"Last time they redirected my lightning and were resistant to fire, so I hope you're up for a real fight," said Azula to her uncle.

Already Sokka could tell these star-spawn had been built for speed, swooping and gliding like true birds rather than flapping masses of limbs. As they drew nearer, flying wing tip to wing tip, Sokka saw they still possessed a medley of tentacles and claws, but they kept them pulled close to their undersides.

A bolt of lightning pierced the air, Azula gambling on the theory they were too close to redirect it back. She was right, but the monsters were still able to channel her bolt from wing to wing, then off into the air as they swooped in. Only Iroh's burst of fire forced them to rise higher and miss everyone on the saddle.

They did not need much space to turn, and soon were flying in formation behind Appa. Azula sent another lightning bolt crackling at them, only to have it redirected back and then deflected by Iroh, who then sent powerful gusts of orange fire at them. Sokka saw the flames hit, causing some turbulence and nothing more.

Planting his feet on the back of Appa's furry head, he urged the bison to dive. The benders kept their footing, but he was nearly unseated when Suzi crashed into his back with a loud "Oof!" He kept urging Appa downward, knowing the bison would level out at the last possible moment before splashing into the sea.

Sokka screamed when it looked like he was wrong and that Appa would be taking them all for a swim, but his fear proved unfounded. Appa did cut it closer than he had expected, however, and he was soon wet from sea spray. Suzi was clinging to him, making it hard to turn back and confirm Iroh and Azula were still aboard.

"Your fire won't hurt them! Try to put them in the water!" he shouted, assuming correctly they were still aboard.

The monsters, about a dozen in all, flew above them for a hundred yard as if recalculating their method of attack. Sokka saw this was indeed the case, when one at a time they began diving like fire hawks chasing rat lizards. Sokka craned his neck to keep an eye on their position, and used Appa's reins to urge the bison left or right. Azula and Iroh were able to use their firebending to force half the creatures into the water, causing the rest to rise and stop their dives.

"They're swimming!" shouted Azula.

Suzi had gained Appa's saddle, leaving Sokka free to turn around. The creatures that had gone into the water were now leaping out of it and diving back in like porpoises, the fire that touched them having no effect.

Azula tried her lightning again, and for a moment he thought it had worked until he heard her curse.

"Keep Appa steered toward that island!" he shouted, handing the reins off to a wide-eyed Suzi, who with white knuckles gripped the hempen cord and traded places with him. On the saddle, he grabbed Azula by the shoulder to get her attention. "Remember the worm! We had to break the skin before the lightning would work."

Azula responded by taking his boomerang and jumping off Appa's back.

"Azula, no!" he shouted, running to follow, but was grabbed by Iroh.

He saw she had managed to latch onto one of the waterborne monstrosities and was hacking at its hide with the sharp edge of his boomerang. He saw a flash of blue, and the two dropped out of sight under the water. The others then followed suit.

Sokka took Appa's reins back from Suzi and tried to get the bison to slow down and turn back, but stubbornness, or more likely fear, now drove Appa forward. He cried repeatedly for the bison to turn, but Iroh and Suzi were shouting that the flying creatures were swooping once more.

Without stopping to ponder the move, he jumped off Appa and hit the ocean hard. Floundering for a moment, he got his sense of direction tuned and swam to where Azula had gone under. He had no plan for what to do when he reached her, and the cold water and force of the fall had knocked all the sense from him beyond the need to swim.

As his limbs propelled him through the water, he opened his eyes and despite the stinging salt could see shapes coming in his direction.

He had planned for this, he told himself. Katara and Nekka were with Piandao and the Mechanist, and they knew the state of things. They had saved the world once before, and they could do it again. Without him if need be.

-888-

Sokka did not remember losing consciousness, but the pain in his chest told him it must have been from inhaling sea water. How he was alive now was less of a concern to him than how long he would stay that way. Looking down at the sea several thousand feet below, he dreaded looking up to see what held him in its hooks. He had a good idea of what it looked like up close, as its fellows were flying nearby. One carried Azula in the same way it held him, only her limbs dangled lifelessly beneath her.

"Azula!" he screamed, thrashing in the grip of the monster's talons. They dug into his skin, but he only thrashed harder, not caring if he fell or was scratched to pieces.

What appeared to be the tentacles of an octopus shark came slithering down around him, enveloping his body and constricting, making it impossible to move and hard to breath. He continued to shout and rave, but the thing did not seem to care about that, only his thrashing.

-She has to be alive, or they wouldn't take her,- he thought.

-They may not be aware she is dead,- the Old One said, startling and infuriating him.

-You're useless! Go away!-

-I grow weaker...soon or...lost.-

He cried out as agony tore though his skull and left him wanting to vomit.

"Don't do that again!" he said, for it hurt to think.

Another bolt of pain, this time he passed out. He could hear the notes of a violin being played close to his ear, an unearthly sound that made his stomach quiver. When he woke he was still in the loving caress of the monster's hooks and tentacles. Azula still dangled from her own captor's clutches.

They were flying higher and faster now, and the neat formation the monsters had been flying was disrupted. Sokka's head ached savagely from whatever had happened to him. He had the strange notion that the Old One had died, but he could still sense its presence.

Wet and bleeding from dozens of small cuts, he let himself hang in the monster's grip and hoped this was what Azula was doing. There was no sense in struggling just now, not with several thousand feet of air between him and the open ocean.

They flew on, putting many miles of sea beneath them. Sokka kept his eyes fixed on Azula, looking for some clue of life. He surmised that if she were awake, he would soon know it, but he hoped she would save her strength for a better fighting spot.

With his eyes shut, he could ignore the sea below, the monster above, and hope Iroh and Suzi, or at least Appa, had the good sense to keep flying and not come after them.

Suddenly the monsters were all descending, making Sokka's stomach lurch. Something had sent them into a panic, but the limited degree to which he could turn his head would not let him see where Appa was.

There were now more black shapes in their air, thrice as many as before. The newcomers were smaller and while their forms were strange, they were more familiar looking than the star-spawn.

They had arms and legs like a man, but long, barbed tails like a scorpion monkey. From their backs sprouted large, leathery wings which they flapped and glided on with silent grace. For heads, they could have been a human's but for the lack of face, or even a mouth. They had long fingers on their hands and used them to grab onto star-spawn, pulling and twisting savagely at any appendage they could grip.

Several of the black, humanoid fliers swarmed the monster carrying Azula and wrested her from the other creature's grasp, making it shriek. Sokka renewed his efforts to free himself when the creatures came for him, and they had him free in short order, there being only a brief time when he was left in free-fall before being caught in their long, iron-wire fingers.

Up close, there was nothing more to see. Their black skin was utterly smooth, yet he could feel hard muscled underneath and while they held him more gently than the star-spawn had, their lack of faces made determining any sort of motive or demeanor impossible.

Azula had become roused in the tumult and was in no mood to be carried by anything, as she kicked and shouted.

"Azula!" he called to her. "Don't fight them! They're rescuing us!"

Sokka called this to her a dozen times before she stopped thrashing, and he hoped what he said was true.

Azula was behind him now, and more of the black fliers had appeared, seemingly from nowhere to assist the ones working to free her. Sokka struggled to see what was happening, for while he was not being hindered from turning to look, nor was he being accommodated.

What he could see elated and terrified him. The star-spawn that captured Azula had wrapped her tight, and rather than pry her free the black fliers had simply torn the thing to pieces, as they were doing to the others, and letting the hodgepodge of body parts fall into the sea.

"Hey, uh, buddy?" he said to his black flier. "Um, so...I don't suppose you talk, or whatever? I see you don't have a mouth. Kinda weird."

The creature made no sign it had heard him, and so he gave up trying to communicate with it.

The fliers carrying Azula had caught up, and were closer so he could see she was unharmed and relatively content with her situation. She flashed him an exasperated look which he returned with a grin. His voice was hoarse and so with his wrist he pantomimed throwing a boomerang.

She shook her head and his heart sank. "We had some good times, didn't we, boomerang?" he said to the water below. "Say hi to space sword for me."

He spent the next few hours thinking about how he would go about making a new boomerang, and maybe a new sword for that matter. -I'll put a cord on the hilt and tie it to my wrist so I won't lose it,- he thought. -And maybe instead of one boomerang, I'll make, like, a boomerang launcher, that way...-

Sokka's thoughts were interrupted when the creatures dropped altitude and swung hard to the south where a small island stood alone, a rocky spire jutting up from one end like a needle. Sokka had no idea where they were, but knew they could not have left the Fire Nation archipelago. Perhaps Azula would recognize the island, or be able to hazard a guess as to where they were.

The flying creatures were headed for the needle, the top of which had a carpet of lush grass which served as the lawn to a wide-mouthed cave. Drawing closer, Sokka could see the area around the cave was ornamented with a picnic table and a lavish, stuffed chair. A cold fire pit sat next to a rack where an empty laundry line had been strung between a tall boulder and a stunted tree. The camp was a bizarre sight, and he thought whoever called it home might be well-prepared for the shock they were about to receive.

He and Azula were set down by the black fliers as gently as could be, but their limbs were weak from hours of dangling and both fell immediately on having solid ground beneath them to contend with. They recovered quickly, however, and before questions could be shouted or rash moves made, the fliers tore into the cave like a colony of wolf bats fleeing the sun.

"What fresh madness is this?" Azula asked, retying her hair which had been thrown into significant disarray.

"I don't know, but we need to get back on course here before..."

The music of a violin stopped him, even his heart it seemed. This time the sound was no distant impression or something he could attribute to hallucinations or dreams, but a real performance happening right now.

From the cave came the music, and after each black flier had disappeared out stepped a tall, gray-bearded man wearing a simple Fire Nation style tunic playing a black violin.

Sokka felt his legs become weak again and the sound of the crashing sea below brought both terror and recognition. "You!" he shouted, breaking the spell of the tune the man played.

The man cowered as if Sokka's voice might attract attention. "I didn't expect they would bring you here," he muttered as though speaking to himself.

Azula held up a fist and from between her fingers crawled a blue, flickering flame. "This is the part where you tell us who you are, where this is, and what those things were," she said, her voice like the fire in her hand.

The man's fear stemmed from something besides the two young people before him, and on seeing he was being threatened he drew himself up to his full, considerable, height and frowned. "I shall tell you all, and when I do you shall feel most ungrateful for having menaced me, young lady," he said.

"Oh no, we're very grateful. I'm grateful, she's grateful, she just has a strange way of showing her gratitude," said Sokka. "Hey, I see your fire went out, maybe she was going to light it or something."

Azula spread her palm and her fire disappeared. She exchanged a look with Sokka that allowed him to step forward and make a polite bow of greeting. "Hi, my name is..."

"Sokka, and this is Princess Azula. Yes, I know who you are."

"Um...okay, then."

The man set his violin down on the picnic table and took a seat in the stuffed chair nearby. "This body is not as young as it used to be, and I've worn it hard," he said. "You can call me Zan. No doubt you recognize me from the beach and have heard my music every so often since?"

"Music? We haven't heard any music," said Azula.

"Sokka is more attuned to certain spheres than some," said Zan. "It's what drew me to him."

Azula crossed her arms tightly and did not appear impressed. Sokka as well felt put out by this Zan person and his manner. The old man stroked his beard and regarded them ruefully. "You might say I'm a traveling musician of sorts," he said finally. "I can move myself and others between the spheres..."

"We've heard this before," interrupted Azula. "The man claimed to be some kind of messenger for a certain Demon Sultan or some such nonsense. Are you him in some ridiculous disguise?"

At her accusation he rose from his chair and shook. "You think I am the Crawling Chaos in disguise? Foolish girl, I...well, perhaps not so foolish."

He calmed and sat back down. "I am not Nyarlathotep, and I am no servant of Cthulhu or Azathoth. You could call me a friend, but I don't know if you will do so when you learn of how little use I can be to you."

Waiving his hands as if to clear away a fog, Sokka began to pace. "Okay, I don't know what spheres are, I mean I know what a sphere is, but I don't know what you're talking about, anyway..."

"At the Great Library of Wan Shi Tong, I sent the ghouls to aid you. I ferried them away before they could decide to turn on you as well, but that's of no importance. It was also I who sent the Night-Gaunts to aid you just now."

"Night-Gaunts? Those things that flew in there?"

Zan nodded. "They hate to fly over water, so it's likely I'll get no help from them again anytime soon."

"Hold on just a minute," said Azula, pushing Sokka aside so she could stand in front of Zan, who was squinting at her. "We've been flying all over the world on the back of a sky bison and so far the only thing that's been able to track us has been Cthulhu's minions. You'd better explain yourself."

He scoffed, looking tall even when sitting down. "I tracked you, young lady, by a dozen means. I hear the song of the spheres, and hidden in the notes is everything that is, was, and ever will be, at least for those tuned in properly. I won't claim to hear a fraction of that song, but I hear enough to know which way to turn my head. Sokka," he said, looking over Azula's shoulder. "Every time you heard that violin music, it was me, tuning in, just to get a sense of where you were and where you might be going. I first heard your notes three years ago, both of you, but I thought nothing of it. Then, more recently, a terrible noise brought me to that beach where you saw me and I took notice of your face."

Sokka gently touched Azula's arm to keep her anger from boiling up. Zan knew how improbable his words were, but sat with such confidence that Sokka had to believe them. "So, in the ocean..."

"I moved you a bit, yes," Zan said.

Azula chortled, pushing Sokka away and sneering at Zan. "So, you have the power to move people and monsters all over creation, and yet here we are standing in the middle of nowhere no closer to our true goal than we were weeks ago. I suppose you have some convenient excuse for not simply walking up to us and offering to send us to the Old One's undersea village?"

A shadow darkened Zan momentarily before fear shrank him, then shame. "I told you already you might not find me the most useful of friends," he said.

"Azula," Sokka whispered, then put his mouth close to her ear. "Let's not give this guy a hard time, okay?"

"You're a fool to be trusting him," she said, not quietly.

"Go ahead and don't trust him if you don't want to, just do it kinda secretly, okay?"

She frowned but seemed to take his point and stepped back, leaving Sokka to bow again. "Sorry, we've just had bad luck with spirits and strange men, you understand."

Zan waved the apology off. "I do understand. I, too, am wary of Nyarlathotep. His influence in this sphere is limited, but it is not so in other places I often frequent. Other beings that have an eye on this sphere are also not so limited elsewhere. That is why I must be careful."

"Ha. You're afraid something will notice you helping us and come after you," said Azula. "And since you can leave this so-called sphere for another one anytime you like, you've got much to lose and nothing to gain by aiding us. Have I got it right?"

Zan dipped his head. "I've risked a great deal by doing what little I have. And as a point of clarity, when I moved you nearer to that ship to keep you from dying at sea, I only nudged you a short distance. Sending you much farther would require sending you through another sphere completely, an experience you would find harrowing to say the least."

Cliff birds were cawing down below, the sound rising up around the needle like dinner bells. Sokka was hungry, which made him think about how much time had passed since they were separated from Appa. "Kinda like the Mechanist's weird crystal," said Sokka.

Zan became animated again and leaned forward in his chair. He seemed loathe to stand, and Sokka noted his skinny legs appeared bowed. "Crystals? Green, by chance?"

"Yeah, kind bluey-green." Sokka repeated what the Mechanist had told him of his crystal experiments, and how they suspected they were important but were unsure how."

"Oh, they have a use alright. The Old Ones knew all about them," said Zan.

"What do you know about the Old Ones?" asked Azula. "We need to go to them, now. I don't care how harrowing the trip will be, it can't be worse than what we're putting up with now."

"Oh, it can," Zan muttered. "The Old One in the lad's mind is how I knew of your latest difficulty. No doubt you experienced some discomfort during your captivity?"

Sokka's head still felt tight from the powerful agonies that had ripped through him, and he nodded.

"I know little of their mindbending art, but I heard your Old One's call all the same. The being inside you is fading, it wants you to return it to the others so it can regain a body more to its liking. A strong word of caution, do not trust the Old Ones," Zan said.

"We don't," said Azula, curtly.

"Good." He faced Sokka, leaning back and appraising him. "You would also be wise not to have any illusions about them. They are not human in any sense, although they are somewhat similar in spirit. No, forget I said that, it will only lead you to ruin. Eh, tell me more of this Mechanist and his crystals?"

Sokka's sore head was spinning from the conversation, and he was about to tell Zan all he knew, but caught himself. "Ah, that's about all we know, actually. Sorry. So, look, it was nice talking to you, thank you so much for looking out for us and all, but we gotta get going. I kinda put a plan in action and I'm pretty sure if I don't get back to it my friends are going to mess it all up to search for me, so...how to we get down from here?"

Zan sensed he had put them on edge with his questions, and pressed his mouth tight behind his beard. He rose from the chair and went to his violin, which he picked up and played a note on. "It sounds like your friends are closer than they were before," he said. "I suppose sending you to them wouldn't cause any of us much harm."

"Oh no you don't, not before you..."

Azula was struck dumb when Zan began to play in earnest. Sokka, likewise, could not have spoken had he wanted to. The sound the old man produced was nothing like violin music, or any song Sokka had heard outside faded dreams about shadows and deep places. The picnic table, the chair, Zan, Azula, the grass, and the cave lost their color and began to shimmer.

Only Azula regained her solidity and color as everything faded to black. They were floating, the strange music now the only thing of any substance besides themselves. A sense of falling overtook Sokka, and he saw Azula reach for him but their positions in space in respect to each other were locked. He could not breathe, and neither could Azula. She panicked first, but before Sokka felt any true dread there was suddenly a hard, cloth saddle beneath his rear.

As Azula drew in deep breaths, Sokka turned to see Iroh and Suzi's wide, slack-jawed faces. "Hi, guys," he said.

-888-

After telling the story of the Night-Gaunts and their meeting with Zan, Sokka did not feel quite so guilty about his past acts of secrecy after seeing how his tale was received. Iroh and Suzi believed him, but their questions were those of doubters and had they not seen him and Azula appear out of thin air he doubted they would have accepted his words as fact.

"Perhaps we'll see him again," said Iroh after pondering the situation.

"Bah. I've have had it with mystical men," said Azula. "Good riddance to him."

The island Appa had been heading for when they were attacked was a thriving fishing community. Sokka bid the bison to land in the woods not far from the town; he did not want the entire village's attention, but he did want word of their travels to get back to Zuko, who would think they were headed into the Earth Kingdom, likely for Ba Sing Se in an effort to ask the Earth King for help.

-A perfectly reasonable, rational, wrong assumption,- Sokka thought as they climbed down from Appa's saddle while the bison grazed on nearby bushes. Near them was a mowed field separated from another grassy expanse by a cobbled road.

"I'm going to puke if I ever eat another melon apple, so let's buy some real food then get a move on," Sokka said.

"We're broke, dummy," said Azula. "We don't even have your boomerang to sell."

Sokka clutched his chest over his heart. "Don't...say...its name..."

"Maybe we could sell some melon apples?" suggested Suzi.

"Don't be stupid. They're a day from being spoiled at best," said Azula.

"We'll sing for our supper," said Iroh, gathering up three melon apples and handing them to Sokka. "Or rather, I'll sing and you'll juggle."

Sokka tossed up a melon apple, then another. The third went up and he almost caught the first when the second hit him in the head.

"You two lemur monkeys enjoy your circus act. You, come with me." She pointed at Suzi as she snatched up a melon apple.

"Um..."

"I'm not going to harm you; I have an idea. Come along now."

Sokka juggled his thoughts more gracefully than he did his melon apples and determined Suzi would be safe. He whispered as much as he tossed the fruits into the air again and tried to get the rhythm of juggling them down.

Both he and Iroh watched the two girls cross the field and walk down the road to the village. It was getting late in the afternoon, but there was plenty of daylight left to them and so Sokka resumed his juggling practice. "I'm sure they'll be okay," said Sokka after many minutes.

Iroh had his doubts and rubbed his throat for a moment, apparently satisfied with his vocal cords. "Why don't we get going, just in case," he said. "Azula is an unpredictable girl."

"I dunno, I think she's pretty predictable," Sokka said, catching two melon apples while the third fell to the ground. He would likely be eating them later, so he decided to stop abusing them until he had to do his act for real.

They started off for the road. Azula and Suzi were well out of sight, but Sokka refused to quicken his pace. "So, ah, you really don't have a problem with me dating your niece?"

"Who, me? I've got plenty of other things to worry about," said Iroh. "And if I didn't, who would I be to say anything? Your friends will offer plenty of hardships for you there, I think."

They reached the road and still they could not see Azula or Suzi. The fields around the village in the distance were large and had been cut recently, so he doubted they had gone off course.

"Yeah, if my sister is any sign of things to come, it's gonna be rough," he said.

"There is much bitterness between my niece and your friends. Too much, maybe."

Sokka hung his head and felt foolish for hoping Iroh would say something encouraging. In the years he had known the man, he had learned to appreciate his wisdom. The notion that Iroh had once been his enemy frightened him, but then again he suspected the wise uncle of the future Fire Lord had been playing on his own Pai Sho board for a long time.

"It's not like we thought it through or anything," said Sokka, almost to himself.

"Who thinks love through?" Iroh asked.

"Love? Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sokka said.

"Well, if it isn't love then you've got nothing to worry about. Young people these days take relationships too seriously too soon."

"Well, it could be," Sokka said, feeling his face grow hot. "I mean, we've been through a lot together, we've been getting along better than before."

"You have a bond, no doubt," said Iroh. "But it's good times that hold people together, not hardship. I knew many men in the war who I'd call my brothers, but they are brothers in arms which is different."

"We haven't had a lot of time for good times," Sokka said.

"That's what I mean, you're thinking too much!" said Iroh, tapping Sokka's arm. "You had your little vacation in the south pole, she tried to kill you when you got back, then you didn't see her for three years, and now it's only been a few weeks. Relax, it'll work itself out."

Sokka felt better, but then felt his sleeve pinched. "But seriously, be careful. Azula is a sensitive girl with more inner demons than you know, and she'll do what she feels she has to in order to protect herself from pain. I care for her, I do, but I'm not blind to what she is, and neither should you be."

"Right," said Sokka, sorry he had asked.

The village was ringed by a low, wooden wall that had failed to contain a small amount of sprawl in the form of simple straw huts and sheds. Inside the wall the houses were built of quality wood and painted with red and black trim. The water beyond the docks was flecked with gold and the wholesome smell of the sea wafted up the short hill. It reminded Sokka of Outer-Maw, but in a way that made that place seem far off.

-888-

Azula tossed the melon apple she had taken back and forth between her hands as she and Suzi made their way through the market. A handful of street performers, mostly fourth-rate musicians, acrobats, and jugglers, some who even Sokka had outclassed, were peddling their talents.

"Looks like they appreciate the arts in this ash pit, right, sister?" said Azula, relishing the use of sister.

"You got it, sis," said Suzi, uncomfortably, which improved Azula's mood all the more.

-Just wait, dear sister, you'll be having even more fun once the show starts,- she thought.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Suzi.

"The plan is for you to be quiet and play along with whatever I do," said Azula, who found an empty spot near one of the fruit stands.

The melon apple she held was tossed high into the air, causing some heads to turn. All eyes were on her when she summoned a bolt of lightning and blew the melon apple into a fine mist just as it began its downward arc.

"Who wants to see me blast a piece of fruit off my sister's head?" Azula asked, grabbing Suzi by the arm and facing the crowd, daring any and all to take her up on the offer.

A few people had fled, but most looked at her in awe. She could hear them muttering, a few even said her name.

-That's right, fools, it is I, your Princess of Fire,- she thought.

In some of her more idle moments she had pondered titles. Fire Lady Azula did not sound right to her, nor did Fire Lord or Phoenix Queen. Fire Queen had her fancy for a bit, but she was liking the sound of lightning Empress more and more, despite the amount of work it would take to earn such an honorific.

She shook these thoughts from her head when a nearby voice spoke up. It was soft with fear, but there was an eagerness to it Azula liked.

"I-I would," it said.

She stepped nimbly to the skinny man who had spoken and after a moment's hesitation, gingerly plucked his sleeve between her fingers. "You're in for a treat, but as you can see, I'm all out of melon apples. Buy me one, won't you?"

Escorting him to the fruit cart, she selected a large melon apple with a slight deformity on one end. The man handed over his coin, and his change was deftly intercepted. "That should cover the price of admission," Azula said. "What about the rest of you rabble? Girls have to eat, you know. Follow us if you want to see my sister narrowly avoid being killed in a most horrible and swift fashion."

"Um, I'm not comfortable with this," said Suzi.

"Nonsense," said Azula, loudly so all could hear. "We've practiced this trick...at least once already."

This made the crowd all the more eager to watch as they followed Azula and Suzi behind a warehouse where there was an open, bare patch of ground used to train ostrich horses. Azula handed Suzi the melon apple and stood her on one end of the dusty circle before turning to the crowd and demanding payment from all those who could easily watch the spectacle. She shot dirty looks at those who had climbed trees or taken to the warehouse's roof, but once she had enough coins she was satisfied enough to overlook the cheapskates.

She went back to Suzi and helped her set the melon apple her head, using the slightly flat spot and the girl's hair to keep it steady. "Y-your lightning is that accurate?" asked Suzi. "Won't I be electrocuted through the melon apple?"

Azula shook her head. "There's a wooden post with a metal ring directly behind you. That's what I'll be aiming for. The melon apple will be a brief stop along the way, and will vaporize before it lets the bolt travel down into your body. Here," she lifted Suzi's arm and used her sleeve to wipe the sweat from the girl's face. "Just don't move, and don't touch the melon apple, otherwise the bolt will go down your arms and fry your insides."

Suzi began to shudder, which pleased Azula to see, but as soon as her trembling started it stopped and the girl was like stone. "Okay, then. I see how it is. Get going, we don't have all day," said Suzi.

"That's the spirit," said Azula, lightly tapping Suzi's cheek. "You'll be fine, trust me. I've got to be nice to all of Sokka's friends, you know."

"This is nice?"

"You should see me I'm being mean," Azula said, licking her thumb and wiping it on the melon apple. Every little bit would help, she thought. Hopefully no more sweat would accumulate on Suzi's face.

The crowd was becoming impatient, but since Azula already had their money she took her time in making sure her stance was correct and that her aim would be true. lightning, she had learned, was more like water than fire. But while gravity and solid objects ruled water, lightning obeyed stranger laws. Azula had learned those laws and liked to think she had a natural intuition regarding them.

She looked over the dusty ground at the girl who might have been her twin in dimmer light. Suzi was a statue, her regal pose exuding defiance rather than fear. Azula smirked, and moved her arms in a circle, summoning her chi to be split. Her eyes focused on the melon apple, but behind it she imagined the metal ring. She held the image of it in her mind as she unleashed a narrow, powerful bolt of lightning that streaked over the ground and hit the melon apple before any onlookers could be startled. The fruit vanished, leaving behind only its scent, while the bolt found the metal ring and traveled down the post into the ground.

Azula paused just long enough to see the deep relief flood Suzi's face, then she gave a deep bow that concealed the look of manic delight on her face. When Azula rose, she looked as though she had preformed the trick a thousand times, smiling only when a few more coins were tossed her way.

"That's all for today, peasants! Maybe I'll do another show tomorrow, but not for free. Now get lost!"

People were clapping and cheering in spite of her hostility. As the crowd receded, Sokka and Iroh came forward. Her uncle did not look pleased, but Sokka's face was boiling with ill concealed anger.

She jingled her pockets full of coins in response to his wordless reprimand. This only seemed to anger him more. "Are you completely out of your mind?" he asked. "You could have killed her!"

Azula rolled her eyes and turned to Suzi, who had walked up. Small strands of her black hair were floating above her head and she tried to pat them down.

"Oh, please," said Azula. "I know other firebenders make controlling lightning look difficult, but it really isn't; she was in no danger at all. Were you, Suzi?"

"I'm fine, Sokka," said Suzi. "Azula did the trick perfectly."

"You're lucky to be alive," said Iroh. "Such tricks are dangerous, even for master firebenders."

"That would depend on the master," said Azula. "Are we going to stand around wagging our fingers all day, or are we going to buy some supplies?"

"Fine, but we're not done with this," said Sokka, holding out his hand for the coins.

Azula smiled and took his hand in her own, leading him towards the market while her uncle and Suzi followed. "First, I'm going to buy myself a decent outfit, then some better food, and if there's any left over I think I owe you a boomerang," she said.

He began to prattle some nonsense about the boomerang being a sacred, personal weapon, and that as a true Water Tribe warrior he would have to make a new one himself using whale bone. She half listened to him as she shopped for clothes, trading his close company for Suzi's, who she used as a moving model, holding up different outfits in front of the girl to see how they might look on her own body.

When they had everything they needed, including camping gear, new clothes, and food, they were flat broke and weary from haggling. It was growing gloomy in the village as the sun burned low, and lanterns were being lit on poles in the streets and over alleyways.

"It's time to go," said Sokka. "We've been away from Appa for way too long."

"He can take care of himself for a few hours, as he's proven many times to us now," said Azula as they walked back along the road. The only purchases she carried were the clothes on her back, and she was feeling good about how she had managed that arrangement with little to no argument from her companions.

They found Appa snoring contentedly in the grove. Sokka checked his wounds and decided he would treat them when the bison was awake, using the bandages they had bought at the section of the market that had catered to ostrich horse needs and other beasts of burden. Azula made sure she kept close to Suzi as Sokka moved around their camp, scowling. Her uncle had reverted back to being somber, a marked improvement to his otherwise normal and irritating demeanor.

When night was truly upon them, they sat around a small fire her uncle had created. Their moods were improved by the noodles and rice they ate, but she could tell Sokka wanted her alone to scold her, something she did not feel like hearing despite her full belly and rested feet.

Sokka got up from the fire to relieve himself, a fact which he announced to her disgust. He came back and drank a bit of tea before declaring he was going for a short walk to make sure the camp was safe.

-I suppose that's my cue to get up and take my lecture,- Azula thought, remaining firmly where she was.

He took his time preparing to leave, and when he did Iroh followed him after he was gone a few minutes.

"I think he's still angry at you," Suzi said.

"Let him be angry, then," Azula said. "He doesn't tell me what to do."

"Was the trick really that dangerous?"

"You know it was," said Azula. "But you're not the type to complain, are you?"

"What?"

"I've decided I like you, Suzi. You're a follower."

"What do I have to do with this?" she asked. "Leave me alone."

Suzi poured all of her attention in on her teacup and sipped it quietly.

"See what I mean? You won't even storm off in a huff to leave me alone for Sokka. You let him and my uncle wrap you up in their schemes, you were going to let that monster possessing Zuko do what he liked, and you let me almost kill you for a few coins. I have nothing to fear from you."

She winced at her last words, and saw Suzi had caught their meaning quite clearly. It was a clumsy move, akin to slipping during an Agni Kai.

"You got that right," said Suzi. "I'm the least of your worries when it comes to Sokka. Same with his ex, and that blind girl."

Azula felt like she had been pinched. She had not considered the blind earthbender. Toph was her name. Certainly neither was a threat at the moment.

Suzi sat up straight, sipping her tea and looking smug. When Azula said nothing, she continued. "Don't worry, Sokka won't dump you until the monsters are beaten. He probably won't dump you for a while after, either. But, when a few months go by and he gets to know the real you, he'll leave you like an old, ugly shirt."

"Ha," Azula said, smirking. "He already knows the real me. He's one of the few who do, actually."

Suzi perfectly mirrored her laugh and smirk. "Oh, right, your little arctic mountain vacation where you two faced death together, how could I forget that romantic tale? I'm sure you were at your best then, Princess Azula, but if half of what I've heard about you is true, your best is a tiny pebble at the bottom of a long, dark well of awful."

"You don't know anything about me!" said Azula, feeling her anger rise in her throat. She took a deep breath and forced herself to be calm. The girl was only trying to annoy her, to get revenge for the painful truth she had just been told.

"I know you think it's funny to blast melon apples off people's heads to scare them. I know you can occasionally be a decent person, but what about the rest of the time? How is Sokka supposed to put up with you on a daily basis when you pull stunts like the one you did earlier? Sokka is a kind, caring man and you're selfish and cruel. No one has to compete with you for Sokka, they just have to wait for you to take yourself out of the picture."

Azula opened her mouth and was horrified when nothing sprang out. She fumbled for an argument, then finding none tried to get angry enough to strike. When that failed to happen, she knew she was in trouble and so quickly rose to her feet and stormed off. She slowed, hoping the girl would say something awful to her as a parting shot. Anything would be better than her pity.


	22. The Old Ones

Appa was chewing on some bushes for breakfast, which Sokka listened to for a long time before rolling over and letting his arm fall across empty forest floor. He wished he could sink into the ground for a few more hours, but his body had demands of him which had to be met and so he rose.

When he was done he came back to the camp and found the others cleaning up in silence. He helped speed things along and looked forward to the wind in his face and the solitude of sitting on Appa's neck, holding his reins.

When they were airborne, he flew west over the village before turning south once he felt confident they were beyond the villagers' notice. Now all the tales going back to the Fire Lord would tell of them going west into the Earth Kingdom.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he shrugged it off. "Get away from me," he said.

With no map and only a vague sense of where they were, his plan was in a tricky phase and it annoyed him to be preoccupied with something else. Sokka needed to keep an accurate sense of time and distance, lest he cost them all days of backtracking by missing the spot where he had planned on meeting Katara and the others.

At noon, he began to look for a place to land and rest Appa. They had been following the coastline of a long island and from the air he found a place not far from a stream where the bison could drink. They had no plans to remain there long, just enough to get refreshed and perhaps eat lunch, but once on the ground Iroh insisted on making tea and checking Appa's wounds.

"You know, there's a type of seaweed that's good for komodo rhinos and ostrich horses, I'm sure it would be fine for a sky bison," Iroh said. "Why don't you go collect some down by the beach? It tends to wash up in, eh, what's the word? Clumps. Big, green clumps."

"Big, green clumps," Sokka said, taking a piece of cord with him to tie up some of this seaweed should he find some.

He went plodding down the gray sand, seeing little besides stones and driftwood, and when he rounded a bend he felt glad for the time alone, even if his solitude was imaginary. Sokka kept walking for about half a mile and stopped to inspect something that might have been the seaweed Iroh mentioned or a dead fish. The smell indicated the later, and so he decided to turn and face Azula, who halted twenty paces behind him.

Sokka saw he had been foolish to keep his back turned for so long, and for a moment he was afraid. This angered her more, and she closed the distance between them before he could think of what to do.

"You..." she said, reaching for him but clenching her fist before she could grab the front of his tunic.

"Me? Really?"

Tears flooded her eyes which she tried to hold back by getting angry. Before she could do anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and held her. "I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head. "I don't know what...what that girl said, she was right..."

He pulled her closer and let his forehead touch hers. "Just relax," he said. "Talk to me."

"I don't know what to say. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have thrown lightning at her head, I could have thrown fire..."

Sokka pulled her tighter so she would not see his look of exasperation. "Yeah, that would have been better. Look at me. Come on, what's going on? I get why you and Katara don't get along, but you were like this with Nekka, June, and now Suzi. I thought you'd like Suzi."

Azula face was red, and she suddenly seemed to fear being watched. He kept his hands on her shoulders, not wanting her to pull away. "I don't know," she said, softly, her voice heavy with impending sobs.

"You don't have to do things like that, you know?"

She was still as the waves lapped at the sandy shore and a white bird sailed overhead against the wind. "I made a fool of myself," she said into his shoulder.

"Yeah, and you put someone in danger for no reason," he said.

"No, I mean just now. And last night after you'd left. What do I have to worry about from any of them? The idea is ludicrous."

She picked her head up to face him, and while her cheeks were red and damp and her eyes wet he felt like a mouse before a fire hawk.

"I'm not sure..."

Her lips against his cut him off, and he had no choice but to remain still for a few moments until she let him pull way. "I'll tell Suzi I'm sorry I fired a bolt of lightning at her head," said Azula.

"Are you sorry?"

"It was reckless, and I hate being reckless."

"That's as good as it's gonna get, huh?"

"Take it or leave it," she said.

He knew what she meant and nodded, feeling the same as he did days before. "No more of this stuff, okay? Promise me that."

"I promise," she said, clasping his hand. Her smile was warm, her eyes alive and cold.

Sokka shuddered and glanced up the beach. "Help me look for this seaweed your uncle told me about," he said and was tugged back towards Appa and there others.

"There's no such seaweed, dummy. Come with me," she said, leading him towards a wooded area.

"Uh, where are we going?"

"We've been making good progress, let's allow the bison some more time to rest."

After moment he agreed that, yes, Appa could use some time to rest up.

-888-

Days of flying took them into the southern regions where they wore their heavier clothing to protect themselves against the biting cold air. The remainder of the trip was thankfully free of monsters and arguments, giving Sokka time to think about the mysterious Zan. Perhaps he had overreacted to the man's questions about the crystals the Mechanist had been studying. It dawned on him that if Zan were an enemy, he could easily travel to the Northern Air Temple and destroy or hide them, with or without information from Sokka.

Why the shoggoth had not done so itself, he had no answer for. He thought perhaps someone or something might come in after the shoggoth and take the crystals, but then again maybe they felt the shoggoth had done its job and would now act as a guard of sorts. In any case, he thought, there was a great deal of confusion working against both sides.

Finally, after thinking he had gone too far east, Sokka caught sight of a rocky island shaped like a broken finger. He changed Appa's course slightly, and more landmarks appeared throughout the day. His good cheer was dampened only by the fact he had no idea what he would find at the cove at Polar Shark Island. Hopefully a ship and two submarines, but there might only be the ship or, worse, nothing.

It was close to sunset when he decided to push on through the night if need be. It was to be a full moon, and with the sky being clear from horizon to horizon, Sokka could see all the islands and shoals he needed to. It was still daylight when he spied the cove he was looking for, he shouted to the others who came to the front of Appa's saddle as eager as he was to see if the other half of the mission had been a success.

"Yes!" Sokka bellowed, making Appa emit a roar of his own. They all cheered upon seeing Piandao's ship, and next to it, raised on a mass of ice, two submarines, one large and the other small.

Appa landed on the deck of the ship before a crowd of cheering sailors. Sokka slid from Appa's neck and into the arms of Katara, who was laughing.

"Iroh! I'm so glad to see you are safe," said Piandao as they also embraced.

Sokka greeted Piandao as well, and introduced Suzi to them all, including Nekka who smiled but looked like she might run at any moment. After Katara stroked Appa's nose and let him smell her, they all went to the mess deck where they all traded accounts of themselves, and Sokka listened eagerly to what Piandao had to say about Suki and Toph.

"They weren't happy about the submarine sinking at first, but they seemed satisfied it was destroyed," said Piandao.

"They might have had some of their fishy friends come along and check afterward," said Azula.

"I don't know about that," said the Mechanist. "We didn't see any of the so-called Deep Ones between here and the Fire Nation. I suppose the ocean is a big place, however, so it's a possibility."

When it came Sokka's turn to speak, he glossed over what he and Azula had seen in the Foggy Bottom Swamp. He had to admit to himself that it was possible many in the swamp tribe had escaped, and that the pods he had seen were not numerous enough to account for everyone in the village, but nor did he build false hope. It pained him to see the long, ashen look of his sister's face.

When he spoke about what he had seen regarding Zuko, that raised many spirits. He then caused many heads to scratch when he told them all about Zan. Eyes went to Nekka, who looked just as baffled as any of them.

"Well, with the parts we've secured, I should be able to not only repair the newer submarine, but ensure that it will survive all but the darkest of depths. The dry dock Katara created with her bending has seen to all of that, so thanks to her," said the Mechanist.

Murmurs of approval bubbled about the table and a dozen conversations sprang up. Sokka sat across from Katara and next to Azula, who focused on eating her dinner rather than try to speak with anyone. From the corner of his eye, Sokka watched Suzi try to make friends with Nekka, who still seemed to be looking for an escape route.

"So, the next step is going to see the Old Ones," said Katara.

"Yep," said Sokka, lifting a spoonful of soup to his lips.

"I'm going, you know."

"I know," he said. "You, me, and Nekka are going to try and make contact with them. Azula, I want you to stay on the sub and protect everybody there. Piandao and Iroh are going to stay on the surface in case things go bad."

"How are we going to talk to them?" Katara asked. "Nekka says she has no idea how to speak their language."

"She couldn't speak it if she did," said Sokka. "Not without a crazy flute and a dozen pairs of lips. I don't know, I was hoping I'd be able to communicate with the one stuck in my brain by now, but I guess we'll have to play it by ear."

They finished their meals amidst the small talk being made by the crew, who dispersed slowly to attend their duties or sleep. Piandao and Iroh slipped away, leaving the young people together. Suzi and Katara did most of the talking, and Sokka was happy to see them together.

Katara's sour expression when he told her he and Azula would be turning in brought his mood down, but he could see she was in good spirits over their missions being successful. When he and Azula left, Katara was still chatting away with Suzi, and his spirits were once again raised when he heard Nekka join in, as if dipping her toe in ice water.

"Well, it's nice they're all getting along together," said Azula. Sokka ignored her as they went to their quarters, where Azula made up for lost alone time. He let her take what she needed, losing himself in her affections and forgetting that the next few days were the real test of whether or not they were doomed.

While laying still in the dark, feeling each others' warmth, Sokka tried to talk, but Azula put her hand over his mouth and they began again.

She was sitting on top of him when she reached over to the nightstand and lit a candle. It burned blue, bathing her pale skin in a ghostly light. "Are you scared?" she asked.

"Of?"

She pinched him. "Of what we have to do now."

"Yeah, I'm scared. If this doesn't work, it means we don't get Aang back, and I don't know how we'll save our friends, much less stop Cthulhu from coming."

His voice was flat and calm, but he knew she could tell he was afraid even without him having admitted it.

"We won't fail," she said, stretching her neck and letting her long black hair fall in front of her like dark curtains. "Our enemies have proven themselves to be fools and we've bested them at every turn. We're two steps ahead of them as we speak. We don't need until the spring equinox, we'll be free of this mess before the end of summer."

"I can't wait," he said, enjoying this pep talk. He shifted, as her weight was making his hips cramp.

"Neither can I," she said, touching his stomach and running her hand up his chest. "We'll have everything worked out by then, won't we?"

"Yeah," he said, his breathing coming faster.

"You'll be mine, and I'll be yours, and no one will come between us," she said.

"Uh..."

"Shh," she said, her hand on his mouth. Her finger slipped inside and he felt her fingernail on his tongue. "Everything will be fine, and there'll be nothing at all to worry about." She drew her finger slowly out of his mouth, then leaned over him, bringing her face close to his. "Right? I want to hear you say it."

"Right. Yes. Nothing to worry about," he said, his words clipped just before he let out a long sigh as his body shuddered.

Azula laughed, covering his face in her hair. She continued to laugh, and some distant memory sparked inside Sokka's brain. He had asked someone, possibly his father, why some men went with crazy women. The answer had made no sense to him then, but it did now.

-888-

Sokka helped repair the Mechanist's submarine, lending his raw skills to the Fire Nation sailors whose technical expertise ended with the boiler on their ship. The more Sokka worked, the more he was in awe of the submarine even though he had seen its inner workings already. When the ballast tanks were fixed, they used parts of the older submarine to fine-tune the controls. After that, they stripped it to its core and used the spare material to strengthen the hull of the Mechanist's vessel.

"It will set my mind at ease having a waterbender aboard," said the Mechanist to Sokka during a lunch break. "Especially one so talented as your sister."

"She's something else," Sokka said, watching Katara move some ice around so workers could get beneath the submarine. Suzi and Nekka watched her. The Necronomicon was in its cloth wrapping, beneath Nekka's arm. "Have you seen Azula?"

"I don't hear any yelling," said the Mechanist.

While none of the sailors took orders from Azula, that had not stopped her from bossing them around. She picked out the weak ones quickly, and they would run small errands for her whenever she asked. All of them showed her respect, but took great pains to avoid her.

-They're all afraid she'll be in charge someday,- Sokka thought. -And she might be if we can't save Zuko.-

But they would save Zuko, and the others. There was still a spring in his step from the night before even if there were rings under his eyes and red streaks on his skin, beneath his tunic. He finished his lunch and went back to work alongside the Mechanist, who delighted in pointing out the submarine's design features as they went.

The following days were largely uneventful. Sokka gave up trying to contact the Old One in his mind, figuring it was finally dead or gone. He spent his days working with the Mechanist, his evenings with Katara and her new friends, and his nights with Azula, who, judging by her energy, still spent much of the daylight hours asleep despite having her mind cleared of the shoggoth.

When it came time to set out for the sunken island of the Old Ones, none argued with Sokka's plan. The ship would remain where it was and keep an eye skyward for monsters or airships. Aboard would be Piandao and Iroh, who would go to Omashu if the submarine did not return within a fortnight.

Before they parted, Sokka took Piandao aside. "So, if you end up having to go to Omashu, maybe you could follow the Southern Water Tribe's coast for a bit, see if you can spot my dad? You know what I mean?"

Piandao clapped him on the shoulder. "I won't have to, but yes, that would seem to be the safest route," he said.

They were all on the submarine when Katara used her bending to liquify the icy dry dock it rested on, allowing it to sink gently into the water. Everything operated like it was supposed to, and they were soon out to sea.

Sokka stood on the submarine's bridge looking out the curved windows that circled it and gave nearly a three-hundred-sixty degree range of sight. Above them the water's surface shimmered like a mirror catching the sun's light which was turned into green rods that dove into the black void of the cold sea.

"So, when do we dive deep?" asked Sokka.

"How about now?" The Mechanist called out a handful of commands, and pulled some levers. The lights around them began to flash, warning everyone aboard that their ears were about to pop.

The green rods faded into blue, then disappeared completely as they descended into blackness. Sokka's ears popped a few times and before he could ask how they were supposed see this far down, the Mechanist pulled a lever in front of him.

Beams of the same colored light that lit the submarine's interior shot into the darkness. "Let's go to the bottom," said the Mechanist. "Better to find the kinks now, don't you think?"

Sokka agreed and went to the windows to look at the sea floor. Minus the water, it reminded him of the desert, only the dunes were smaller and made of mud. He was disappointed that there were no creatures to speak of, but just then a school of fish swam by, chased by a sharktopus. The mud of the bottom teemed with life, unlike the dead desert. Fish he never would have guessed were there swam away in panic, shaking the silt from their flat bodies when the submarine came too close.

"Whoa!" he said, when a field of seaweed shrunk into the mud upon the submarine's approach.

"Those are worms, believe it or not," said the Mechanist. "There are fascinating creatures down here. The deeper you go, the stranger they become."

Sokka peered at jellyfish swimming before the windows and saw other small creatures moving with them, beings the size of a speck in some cases, but the glass and light afforded him a good view. He stood, entranced, for some of these beings reminded him of the Old Ones themselves.

"Some biologists think all life began in the sea," said the Mechanist.

Sokka recalled that neither he, nor Azula, had mentioned to anyone her theory that the Old Ones, through their biological experiments, had created the first life forms on the planet, to which everything living on it now could claim relation to. He turned back to see the Mechanist smiling silently, his eyes fixed on the marvel before them.

The deep sea passed around them for many hours before he began to look for things to do. The crew was competent and, while short staffed, had everything under control. "It will be a while yet, Sokka. Remember, we only know the general location of these Old Ones, so even when we arrive we might have a search before us. Why don't you get some rest?"

"Good idea," he said, wondering where Azula had gone. He moved silently down the corridors, thinking it would be fun to try and catch her unawares. It might earn him a bloody nose, but there might be something else in it for him, too.

He heard her voice mixed in with that of Katara and Suzi's coming from the latter's quarters. His budding frustration was cut short when he realized no one was yelling. Moving silently, he got closer but kept far enough away so he could pretend to be strolling by if someone came out.

"They'd be fools to fight us. We share a common enemy," said Azula.

"They've made it pretty clear they don't care about what happens to us, just themselves," said Katara.

Their conversation had been going for some time, Sokka could tell, and he was glad to hear it was not about him.

"Either way, don't you think they'll be upset when we show up at their door? They can't think we've come to chat with them," said Suzi, who had insisted on coming along in the submarine despite the objections of many, including Iroh.

"There may be some violence initially, but they'll see reason soon enough," said Azula.

"How are you going to reason with them when you don't know how to talk to them?" asked Katara. "This is going to be a mess, and we'd better be ready for it. What do you think, Nekka?"

"I think...Azula is wrong," said Nekka, sounding pleased despite the grim implications of her words. "If the Old Ones thought we had some way of aiding them, they would have approached us differently. And given the tsunami they caused and their reclusiveness I'd say they have a fairly low opinion of our species in general."

"Funny, Cthulhu and his minions don't seem to have such a low opinion of our efforts, and that Nyarlathotep character seemed to think we were worth his trouble."

"Oh, you mean the guy who wants you to kill Aang? Still thinking about that, are you?"

Sokka prepared to step in, but thought he would listen to how Azula handled this. He heard the earnestness in her derisive laugh, but he doubted the others did. "Like I said before, if we're going down then the universe can come with us."

"So you say," Katara said.

"Very well, then, it seems I'll have to save the world before I can get a civil word from you. Good day."

"There you all are," Sokka said, walking in after rapping sharply on the wall. "Everything alright?"

"Just having some quality girl time," said Katara.

"Right on. I'm going to get dinner, you all in?"

They were, and he led the way to the mess deck, feeling oddly content.

-888-

Sokka woke up to loud banging on his cabin door. Azula awoke beside him and grumbled some half-worded threat.

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second," he shouted, throwing his pants and tunic on. He opened the door to find Teo, his face flush with excitement.

"We found it!" he said, wheeling away towards the bridge.

"Wait, how do you know?"

Teo stopped long enough to say, "Unless there's two sunken cities down here, we found it."

"Be right there," Sokka said, rousing Azula with the news.

Sokka picked up a sword and scabbard he had been lent by Piandao before leaving the ship. It was no space sword and it would not return to him if thrown, but it was a quality weapon.

They ran to the bridge where most of the crew had assembled, along with Katara, Nekka, and Suzi. "There it is," whispered the Mechanist.

Through the glass windows, illuminated by the lights of the submarine, was a familiar scene to Sokka's eyes. Set atop a plateau of mud covered rock was a nest of domed structures built to interconnect with each other forming looping, curved streets and open terraces. As the submarine passed over the buildings, Sokka and the others looked for signs of movement. They saw numerous fish, crustaceans, and spineless, tentacled creatures but nothing like an Old One.

"I've never seen anything like it," said the Mechanist.

"This must be it," said Nekka, stepping close to the glass, her shyness forgotten.

"What's that up ahead?" Sokka asked.

He had spied a massive stack of domes that formed a single structure. There was a flat ramp leading up the side to an open archway.

-Here. Arrived.- It was the Old One, like a distant echo.

-Still hanging in there, huh? Guess you can't tell me how to get in?-

-Archway.-

-Thanks. I never would have guessed.-

"Head towards that archway, but don't bring the submarine through. I think this is our stop, team."

He, Katara, Azula, Nekka, and Teo left the bridge and went to a chamber at the top of the submarine. The lights flashed, indicting the submarine was in position. "Teo, tell your dad that if anything goes wrong, surface and get clear. Nekka, give him the Necronomicon."

She handed the book to Teo, who held it like a jar of blasting jelly.

"Alright, here's the game plan. I'll lead the way and we'll see what happens. Something tells me the Old One stuck in my head is going to do the talking. I just don't know how." He could sense his words were not inspiring much confidence, but neither was he getting objections. "No matter what happens, don't attack them unless you're forced to. If they see we haven't come to fight, that might be our foot in the door. Got it? Katara, can you bend us into that archway?"

"The pressure down here is intense, but I think I can get us in. I didn't see anything around that might attack us," she said.

Sokka had not given up his worry that Deep Ones had been hiding amongst the domes of the Old One's city. The beams cast by the submarine's electric search lights were powerful and cast deep shadows that could have concealed almost anything.

"Enough stalling," said Azula, whose presence no one questioned despite it being contrary to Sokka's original plan.

Teo left them and Sokka opened the hatch. Katara caught it, and struggled to bend it upward. "Nekka, help," she said through gritted teeth.

Nekka's limited waterbending ability was enough to bolster Katara's efforts, and they climbed to the top of the sub while the sea tried to crush them. Sokka closed the hatch behind them, and gave the waterbenders as wide a berth as possible so as not to disrupt them.

"It's too much...we have to get inside...now..." Katara grunted, moving down the length of the sub where the front had come into light contact with the steps leading up to the arch. They moved quickly, and once under the archway Katara used the water inside to create a thick wall of ice against the sea.

When it was done, she collapsed in exhaustion. Even Nekka was weakened. "I don't know if that will hold," Katara said, gasping.

Sokka felt his breath coming hard as well, and realized the only air in the large space was what they had brought with them from the submarine. Luckily the area beyond the arch was not as large as it seemed from the outside.

"We'll have to go back if there's no air down below," Sokka said. "Azula, no fire just yet."

The lights from the submarine were shining through the ice wall, barely, casting them all in the deepest twilight. The ice could be heard straining against the outside pressure as Sokka helped his sister to her feet.

"That looks like a door," said Azula, gesturing towards a shadowy recess.

The door was built into an archway, its handle a stone loop set into a hole. Azula pulled it out, and some unseen mechanism caused the door to slide sideways. Sokka breathed with relief when a gust of fresh, damp air blasted them as it rushed to fill the foyer.

Azula's blue flame lit their way. She walked behind Sokka, Nekka behind her, and Katara took the rear, a token precaution against the potential for the ice wall to break and send unimaginable tons of water sweeping along behind them.

The door led not to stairs, but a tunnel, smooth and dry that spiraled gently downward. There was an order to this place that Sokka had not felt in the city beneath the south pole, and he could tell without asking that Azula felt the same sense of familiar strangeness. "You should draw your sword," she said.

His hand was on the blade's hilt, but he kept it sheathed. "We're not here to pick a fight, remember?"

"We will if it means getting Aang back," said Katara.

"We'll get him back, don't worry," Sokka said, trying to sound confident. He remembered how swift the Old One on the beach had been, the power coiled in its bizarre body. Half a dozen of them would be a tough fight, and it dawned on him that he had no idea how many might be living down here. The narrowness of the passage would negate their numbers if they attacked in a group, but something told him brute force would be the last trick they used.

When the walls shook and the tunnel filled with the sound of rushing water, they broke into a run they knew was pointless. Cold water came smashing into them, overcoming his sister's powerful bending ability as though she were a novice, and dousing Azula's flame. Awash in cold and darkness, they were battered against the smooth, stone walls at a frightening speed.

They felt a massive tremor before being dumped onto a hard floor where they could at least breathe. Shocked from the cold and force of the flushing, it took them a moment to collect themselves. Blue fire fluttered from Azula's hand, and she let out a gasp.

All around them stood barrel-shaped, starfish-headed bodies that swayed softly like a forest of deep sea polyps. The orbs tipping each starfish arm were all focused on the humans they surrounded, and the ones closest had tentacles and clawed appendages emerging from seams in their bodies.

When Sokka was grabbed, he was aware of screaming. Be it his own or one of the women, he did not have time to ponder for a familiar scene was repeating itself for him. The Old One that held him brought him to the toothy hole at the top of its body, and for a moment Sokka knew without a doubt this time he was to be eaten.

As on the beach, he was blasted with a loud, musical piping noise that ripped the consciousness from him and sent him spiraling down a long, dark hole.

-888-

Awakening in pitch darkness with a pounding in his head, he touched his eyes to make sure they were still there. He felt all around his head, then his body. He still wore clothes, but he felt as if he had been stripped. His sword was gone, and in his search for it he learned he was shut up in a small, domed cell. The only thing resembling a door was an indentation in the shape of an archway.

The air was stuffy and he fought the urge to panic, for he remembered that he was little more than a bug to the Old Ones, something easily left in a jar and forgotten. "Hey! Hey!" he called out. "We just want to talk! You understand what talk means, smart guys!?"

His voice was loud in the small space and he saw no sense in screaming himself hoarse. He might feel differently after some time had passed, but until then he would rest. Crossing his legs, he tried for the thousandth time to contact the Old One in his mind and was startled to feel a new emptiness in him. Any relief he might have felt was washed away by the notion that the missing Old One likely knew the secret of how to break the Avatar cycle.

His chest became tight all of a sudden and he kicked at the wall, screaming as loud as he could. "Let me out! Let me outta here! You leave him alone, do hear me? Killing him won't save you! Killing him won't..."

Sokka went limp in frustration. Yelling was not making him feel any better and he sought out the solace that logic sometimes brought him. He could not be certain the Old Ones had learned anything new from him. The fact he was alive likely meant they needed something from him still, for he did not get the impression they were an altruistic group. What they needed and how they planned to get it was something to worry over, but he felt the wild panic of being trapped bleed away from him as he formed nebulous plans about how he would communicate with them, or fight back.

Getting to his feet, he pressed his palms against the domed cell's ceiling. It was made of smooth stone like everything else in this place had been, yet there was a tiny hole near the top which he placed his finger in, thinking it might be some sort of mechanism. It was just a hole, but by licking his finger and putting it near the opening he could feel air coming through.

-At least they remembered I need to breathe,- he thought. -Maybe they'll pump water in through it when they're sick of me. Ooh, or acid! Maybe lava...-

He shook his head of useless thoughts and wondered how long he had been trapped. Certainly not two weeks, but the stiffness in his muscles spoke of a few hours at least. Sokka tried to remember his last moments before going dark, wanting to know what might have become of his companions. For their sakes, he hoped the battle had been quick but he could recall nothing beyond their alarmed screams.

There was nothing for him to do but meditate and conserve his energy Time would pass quickly this way, he thought, but after a thousand breaths he decided sleeping would make it go by faster. Sleep would not come, so he forgot about saving his energy and began to do pushups, followed by situps, and finally when his mind made it clear to him that he would go mad sitting there in the dark, he relaxed and let it happen.

There were no tears, nor was there any screaming. He simply sat, staring into the blackness wondering if the universe would remember him, or anyone like him, after Cthulhu arrived. Embracing despair had a soothing effect, but he could not shake the sense that there was more to do and so it nettled him without end.

Sokka's stomach growled, reminding him of his other bodily functions, none of which were pressing on him as of yet. That prompted him to check his cell over once more, first the hole and the indent in the wall, which he felt had to be the way in and out.

Rapping his knuckles on it, he determined it was as least as thick as the cell wall and so he did not waste his time shouting at it in an effort to be heard by his jailers.

"Come on," he muttered, running his finger around the indentation's edges. If there was a seam between it and the wall it was too flush for him to feel it. Thinking this was his best bet for a weak spot, he kept working the edges with his fingernails and came to the believe that there was indeed a seam there, perhaps all around the floor, too.

A strange thing happened, something he was barely aware of. He began to imagine what the cell looked like from the outside. It would be a cylinder, he thought, with an arch cut into the side. Inside the cylinder would be the dome...-No, not a cylinder,- he thought. -Another dome.-

He thought of an egg, split in half and drained of the yolk. The broken side of the little end was then put over the big end of the other half, like a hat on a person's head. It could then be spun around...

Sokka went to indentation and felt the lip created by the wall. He pushed sideways on it in one direction, then pulled. He tried the other way and fell down out of shock when the dome budged.

Breathing hard and fast, he froze, unsure of whether or not to proceed. Once free of his cell, then what? Shaking his head, he began again to turn the dome and wonder if the Old Ones had forgotten to lock it or if they thought him too stupid or too physically weak to operate the door.

When his cell rotated around to the opening, he stepped out into a familiar, hated green light. It emanated from wall sconces that were glass bowls containing a glowing slime. Sokka had seen it before, and knew it to be a type of slime mold that grew deep in caves under the south pole. It had been he and Azula's main source of light besides her fire in the dark caverns and shoggoth-infested city.

The fungal light showed him he was not far off the mark in how his cell had looked from the outside. Before him was a large, conical dome, the top of which melded into a cylinder, or pipe as he now considered it, which had been the source of his oxygen.

His was the only cell in a larger, domed room, and Sokka began to doubt it had been designed as a prison. That would explain how he had been able to get the door open. It was not a good explanation, he thought, but it did not matter to him at the moment.

Sokka's search for a weapon was fruitless, as the Old Ones were tidy if nothing else. Bare stone passages, wall sconces, and bizarre domed rooms were all that he found in his wanderings, for wanderings they were as he had no idea where his friends were being held. The layout of the place followed no logic he was familiar with, and each empty chamber he came across either served no function or had been built for some alien purpose he could not fathom.

A few chambers broke the mold in that they contained stone murals that seemed to depict...something. He could not say what. In these rooms he found what he could only guess were shrines. These displayed stone idols depicting the Old Ones themselves, albeit in a reduced form. He recognized the barrel-shaped body and the five-pointed head, but the sculptors left out the wings, tendrils, and pincers he had seen on their true bodies.

At first he tread carefully, not wanting to be found by members of the elder race but soon he found himself wishing he would encounter them and be able to make himself heard. He had come across nothing that he thought offered him a viable hiding place if he were to be found, and he had no hope of winning a fight against an Old One.

The fungus sconces were planted farther and fewer between as Sokka followed a series of curved hallways that seemed to be leading downward. A change had come upon the architecture, he noted. The passages were no longer uniform loops, but bent in odd directions. Perhaps this was due to the change in the type of rock the walls were now made of. Before the stone had been smooth like marble. It was still smooth, but the rock was black and semi-reflective, making the green lights all the more powerful and their effect on his eyes almost nauseating.

It came to the point where he truly wished to happen upon an Old One, for he was utterly lost in the obsidian passages. The air was warmer and more humid, and he was ready to begin shouting to make his presence known when he entered an irregularly shaped chamber the size of a small house.

The walls were dripping with gray ooze emanating from a source unseen near the dark ceiling. Clumps of the strange substance sat about in piles making him think of manure. His stomach knotted and he tasted bile at the thought, but the substance had no odor he could detect which made denial easier. There were clumps of the goo stuck to the walls as well, which would have been an odd practice, he thought, even for an alien species

When his mind processed the disgusting aspects of the chamber, he cried out in shock and surprise when he saw what was stuck in two of the goo clumps on the walls.

He ran to his sister first to make sure she was alive. She was warm and he could tell she was breathing, but his efforts to rouse her amounted to nothing. He cleared the slime from her face, then backed away quickly when he found his hands had gone numb.

Azula was trapped in a similar fashion, and he could tell she was alive by looking at her. He looked around for Aang, but only found Nekka, encased as the others were.

"Hang on, I'll think of something," he said.

He was about to take off his tunic to use as a barrier between his limbs and the strange goo when he heard something enter the room behind him. Sokka turned to see an Old One blocking the exit. Two of its eye-stalks focused on him while the others lazily danced around the room.

"Just...hear me out, okay," he said, ready to leap and tear at those red orbs at the end of the stalks should the creature attack.

He almost made the first move when the air filled with the strange, piping music they played, but he froze when it took on a harsher tone.

"Szzzokka," it said. "Szzokka. Sokka."

It reminded him of a singer tuning his vocal cords before a performance. "That's my name," Sokka said. "Can you say more?"

"Yesszzz," came the Old One's voice. "Yes. It isz difficult to szzpeak."

"Let's keep it simple, then. We want to help you keep Cthulhu from getting the Avatar. We can figure it out together."

"I knnnnow," said the Old One, it's voice that of a talking reed flute.

"Then why all this? Why kidnap Aang? Why hold us like this?"

"Nnnnot I. The otherszzz deczzzision."

It began to make a strange choking sound, then abruptly the top portion of its body began to convulse. It doubled over, and from the hole between its eye-stalks coughed up a pile of yellow mucus. Sokka felt like he might follow suit with vomit.

"There," the Old One said, its voice still musical and piping. "Better. This body is new. Still healing from alterations."

"Ah, yeah, body alterations. That's always rough," Sokka said. "Help me out here, buddy, are you on my side or what?"

"I told them to put you in the storage vessel. I knew you would engineer an escape. I am pleased you found this place on your own. I would have sought out you had you not."

"You're..."

"Yes, I have called your body home for some time. I was dying when we mmmet. I put my...ssspirit you would call it into your mind. I could onnnly speak to you with great effort, and even then I could only speak on your termssss."

Sokka nodded, despite not being entirely sure he understood. "Well, you can tell me all kinds of things now, can't you?"

"Yes, with some effort. I know your language, for I possess your knowledge...as do my fellows."

"Including how to kill Aang so the Avatar cycle will be broken and Cthulhu will be out of luck, right?" He squared his stance and flexed his fingers, wondering if the Old One's eyes were as soft as they looked.

"Yes. They will kill the Avatar as soon as they can ensure the process will work."

"Where is he!?" shouted Sokka, stepping closer to the Old One. If it feared him, it showed no sign. "Guess what, fella? You know everything that's up here, then you know what I'm going to say. We're not going to help you kill Aang so the cycle breaks. There has to be a way to keep Cthulhu out of here. You did it once before, we can help you do it again. We're not as..."

"Enough," the Old One said. It was hard to tell if it meant to be forceful, for its voice was a musical monotone, but it silenced Sokka all the same. "Yes, I know yourrr mmmind, and I agree with you."

"Huh? You...want to save Aang, too?"

"We will be destroyed when Cthulhu takes this world. There are other entities that know of his designs yet do not believe he can overthrow Azathoth with the power he seeks to obtain from your Avatar. That, or they simply do not care. Eitherrr way, they have rendered no aid and unlike my fellows I see no reason to be concerned for them."

"Funny, Azula said the same thing."

"I know, and I agree with her. Given no other option, this is the path you would choose as well."

"Eh, maybe," Sokka said, seeing no reason to admit the Old One was probably right. "We can talk about all this later. Help me rescue these three, then take us to Aang.

The Old One moved across the floor to stand before the captives. From a seam in its body came a number of long, flat tentacles which it used to pull the women from the goo.

"Um..." Sokka saw all three girls were nude save for the gray ooze.

"Their coverings should be in the next chamber," said the Old One.

Sokka found their clothes piled in an oval-shaped container made from the smooth, light colored stone of the upper chambers. He also found his sword and Katara's water skin, which was still full.

The Old One had cleaned the girls of the goo completely, which he was glad he had not witnessed and would not be telling any of them about when they woke up. He got them dressed and was then presented with three clumps of balled seaweed by the Old One. "Place it in their...mouths."

Relieved, Sokka did as he was told. The effect was almost immediate and they stirred as if waking up from a long night's sleep. He stood between them and the Old One and let them process what they were seeing before smiling and helping them to their feet. "Everyone okay?"

"I feel strange," said Katara, rubbing her arms.

"The effect will perssssist for a short time," said the Old One.

Before Azula could attack, Sokka held up his hands in front of her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's okay. He's going to help us get Aang. Okay, Old Guy, lead the way."

"Follow me," it said, flopping into its side like a slug only to slither speedily across the slime-covered floor.

"Sokka," Katara whispered as she stepped closely behind him. "That thing..."

"Is the only friend we've got down here," said Azula.

"She's right, we don't have a choice."

They followed the Old One deeper into the obsidian passages where the gray goo became restricted to pools while the floor itself remained slippery. Sokka thought it best he not learn what the substance was, and so he made no inquiries. His other questions went unanswered, but he kept asking them until the Old One slowed and told him to be silent.

The tunnel they were in grew wide and straight, and suddenly the Old One halted. It reared up and bent its trunk to direct its eye orbs at them. "Two of my kind are tending the Avatar. I can incapacitate one, but you three must overcome the other. Do not kill."

"Um, no problem, but I've seen you guys in action, you don't go down so easy."

"You," the Old One said to Katara. "Force water down your foe's gullet, then freeze it. This will stun the body. You, use your ability to create lightning but only do so at a fourth of your normal power. Understood?"

Sokka saw something odd on Azula's face for a brief instant. Doubt, perhaps? In any case she was over it immediately and nodded. "Yes," she said, when it seemed the Old One did not pick up on the gesture.

"Walk behind me to better conceal yourselves. The ruse will not be kept for long."

The Old One moved forward, its body upright. The four humans followed directly behind it as they all entered a large chamber lit with green fungus and coated in gray slime. Sokka could see slightly over the Old One's body the two other creatures. They were standing on either side of something he could not perceive, and all he could see of them was the long, thick tentacles they had raised into the air. One set of tentacles was rigid as poles while the other set moved gently as though blown by a soft breeze.

The strange, piping music that was their language filled the air. The Old One before them piped a greeting, then without warning attacked. It seemed to explode with a mass of oddly shaped tendrils, ensnaring the creature on the left, while the other wasted no time in coming to its aid.

Behind the tentacles Sokka saw a pile of goo. In the center of it was a round, white head with a blue arrow tattooed over the skull, pointing down towards the forehead. Without warning an arc of water shot past Sokka, slicing apart the tentacles of the second creature. Gray, milky fluid shot out of the stumps as a powerful bolt of lightning struck the wounded Old One, charring it.

Sokka clung tight to his blade, no longer sure of what would happen. He could not tell if the Old One winning the fight was theirs or not, which prompted him to stand in front of the the two benders while the fight was concluded.

One of the battling Old Ones suddenly stopped moving and wilted. The other turned two eye-stalks towards them, while two others bent to view its dead fellow.

"You did not listen," it said in its musical voice, devoid of anger or any hint of emotion.

"Get Aang out of that slop or you're next!" Katara shouted.

"Do as she says," commanded Azula.

"What are you guys doing?" Sokka said through gritted teeth.

"Letting these things know that we value their lives as much as they do ours," said Azula.

Katara did not seem to like hearing it phrased like that, but she offered no dispute.

The Old One took Aang out of the goop and did for him what he had done for the women, making them all exchange disturbed glances.

"Look for his clothes," said Sokka, who went to Aang's side along with Katara. The Old One had taken the liberty of placing the seaweed clump in Aang's mouth, but the effect was slow to take hold.

When Aang's eyes fluttered open, Sokka could not resist a loud cheer as Katara embraced him.

"Guys...Katara...what's happening?" His voice was soft, but healthy.

Aang's legs wobbled as Katara and Sokka helped him stand. He looked at them both with wide eyes, which widened all the more when he saw the Old One. "It's a long story, buddy," said Sokka, patting his friend on the shoulder.

Azula walked up to them and handed Aang his orange and yellow clothes, and glider staff. "And that's an even longer story," Sokka said, seeing Aang's eyes widen more.

Aang dressed quickly without saying anything. He looked between the Old One and Azula, then into Katara's face. "I'm dreaming again, aren't I?"

"No, sweetie, this is real," Katara said, hugging him and covering his face with kisses.

"Reality leaves a lot to be desired," said Azula, sounding bored. She turned to the Old One and cocked her head to the side. "I assume you're going to help us the rest of the way? You'll have an awful time explaining this to your friends."

The Old One's mood was inscrutable, but Sokka could not help but feel sorry for it. It seemed rooted to the floor, waiving four of its eye-stalks in all directions while one dangled over the group of humans it had allied itself with.

"Well?" asked Sokka, trying to sound friendly.

"Follow me," said the Old One.

The tunnel he led them through was so small the humans had to crawl on all fours behind the Old One, whose body slipped through easily. It was completely dark where they were, which Azula cured with her flame.

"Remove the light," said the Old One, its musical voice sounding pinched. "Cling to me and each other."

Sokka felt the Old One wrap a thin, cold tendril around his wrist while Azula clung to his tunic after cutting off her flame. In that fashion they were led through small, winding tunnels of obsidian. The air became stale and foul smelling, and Aang's attempts to freshen it with his bending were stifled by the muffled song of the Old One, which had trouble speaking as its body was forced to contort in order to fit through narrow areas.

"Where are we going?" asked Sokka, squeezing between rocks and trying to separate himself from the intense, claustrophobic mania threatening to overtake him. "Our submarine probably left by now, unless you guys attacked them, too."

"Our bodies cannot survive the pressure at this depth," said the Old One.

"Then how..."

"Silence. We will speak later."

Sokka wondered if the Old One had changed its mind about helping them. Its surliness could easily be his imagination, but he doubted his girlfriend and sister had endeared themselves with their actions. By human logic, it was now in the same boat they were, but he knew better than to assume human logic was in play here.

They came to a long, steep slope which they promptly lost their footing on and went sliding down without even the semblance of control. The Old One let go of Sokka and curled into a ball. They all came to a stop on a smooth, stone floor that was soaked in seawater. Azula ignited her hand and revealed they were in a plain chamber, the only feature being a dome in the corner like the one Sokka had been held in. A wide cylinder fixed to its top ran upward into the darkness where the blue light did not penetrate.

The Old One stood like a polyp before the dome, turning it so the opening was revealed. "Enter," it said.

"You first," said Azula.

The Old One did as she suggested, and with great reluctance they all crowded in with it.

"Breathe deeply and do not panic," the Old One said, once it shut the door and trapped them inside. It began to make coughing noises as it convulsed.

"Aw, gross, did you have to do that now?" Sokka cried out.

A horrible smell filled the small room, causing them all to emit cries of disgust. Sokka began to feel dizzy, then in a panic he beat on the Old One with his fists as mucus started to gush from its top opening.

"Hhoolgd shtilll," it managed to say though the goop it was producing. Azula tried to make flames, but they were doused when the Old One shifted its weight against her.

"Do what it says everybody!" shouted Nekka.

It soon became clear they did not have a choice, as the nauseating odor of the mucus caused them to lose consciousness.


	23. The Cost of Living

Sokka was lying on a cot beneath a gray metal ceiling. Even the smallest movements triggered a storm of pain that touched his head, arms, stomach and legs. He had been lying in a semi-conscious state and was not sure where he was. When he felt like he could move without passing out, he sat up with a loud groan and saw Azula lying on a cot of her own nearby. They were not on the Mechanist's submarine, that was all he could say.

Sokka swung his legs off the cot and tried to sit up, but could only bend himself in Azula's direction. His sister's arms caught him, held him for a moment and laid him down. "She's fine," Katara whispered. "She was awake earlier. Whatever knocked us out affected some of us worse than others."

"The Old One...?"

There were dark rings under Katara's eyes, but they glittered with something he realized he had not seen in her face in a long time. Smiling, she planted a kiss on his forehead. "The Old One was helping us get to the surface, just in a really gross way," she said.

"What happened? How...where..."

Placing her hand on his head, she took a deep breath. "The goo the Old One covered us in formed a kind of cocoon that protected us from the water pressure while it floated up. It...put tubes down our throats so we could breathe...anyway, the Mechanist and his crew saw it go up, and since they hadn't seen us for a few hours they went to check it out. They had to break open the cocoon thing, so I guess that explains why the Old Ones had to raise part of their city to get Aang down there."

Sokka remembered the tsunami, the chaos, the limbs sticking out of the mud. All for the sake of convenience, apparently. "Is everyone..."

"Everyone's okay, even the Old One. It was pretty chaotic at first but I guess it explained itself to everyone somehow."

"Where's Aang? We have to tell him everything."

"Already done. For once everyone else knows more about what's happening than you and her," she nodded to Azula, who turned in her sleep.

"That's kind of a relief," said Sokka, wanting his cot closer to Azula's. "But we've still got big problems."

"I've got some good news. The Old One and Aang have been talking, and we think Aang can bend the monsters' minds out of our friends, kind of like how he locked the Fire Lord's firebending."

"Excellent," Sokka whispered, closing his eyes and feeling many pounds lighter.

"I know, it's...it feels good to know what we're doing, even if it will be hard."

"Not knowing is the worst," Sokka said, taking her hand and squeezing it. "And when Team Avatar is together again I won't have a care in the world, even if Cthulhu is trying to eat me."

Her smile made him feel better, and he managed to sit up with her help. "I've got a lot more sleeping I need to do, but can you..." He shuffled his cot in Azula's direction. Katara helped him stand, and moved it for him so he could lie down beside her.

"You actually care for her, don't you?" she asked, her wan smile forced for his benefit.

"Yeah."

"I'll be back to check on you in a bit. Get some rest."

Sokka put his arm over Azula's shoulder, closing his eyes when he felt her hand brush the top of his fingers.

-888-

When he awoke he had a slight headache which he forgot on seeing Azula's bored face. She was kneeling next to his cot, brushing his hair from his eyes. Suddenly uncomfortable from this show of tenderness, she tapped his cheek and stood up, dropping the cord he used to tie his hair into a wolf's tail onto his face.

"It's time to wake up," she said. "We need to go speak with that thing and get caught up with what's going on. The Avatar is becoming fast friends with it, which is bad for us."

Her hands were on her hips and her old self was well-pronounced in her posture and voice. Nothing about her indicated she was going to let him fall back into slumber, and so reluctantly and with many groans he put his feet on the floor and tied his hair back. "How about breakfast first?"

"Breakfast was hours ago, but very well. Your mind isn't as sharp when you're hungry."

"You know me so well. What's gotten into you?" They were alone in the room and he could hear the creaks and groans of the steel interior and the distant thrum of the ship's boiler.

"I'm just staying one step ahead. So far we've had our way because you and I were the only ones who had a clue, but all that's changing. If the Avatar manages to get your friends back then they'll need you, and me, even less."

He rubbed his forehead hoping it would stimulate whatever part of it was responsible for patience. "You're doing it again," Sokka said. "Let's just get some lunch, then we'll go see Aang and maybe the Old One."

She sneered and rolled her eyes, further aggravating him. "You might want to clear that second step with your sister first. We almost had a duel when I tried to speak with the Avatar earlier."

"Great," he groaned, only briefly wondering why Katara would be suddenly be so protective. Shaking his head, he rose and went to the mess deck with Azula walking slightly in front of him.

It was lunch time for the first shift crewmen and all non-crew members, which meant getting food and finding Aang were accomplished at the same time. Aang leaped over the table when he saw Sokka and was buffeted over the floor by a gust of air into a powerful hug. "You have no idea how good it is to see you, man," said Sokka, looking into his friend's wide, bright eyes. He broke the embrace lest his friend realize he was shaking.

"I don't remember anything after that night at the party," said Aang.

"That's the part I wish I could forget," said Sokka, clearing his throat to hide the crack in his voice. He suddenly felt as though he might burst from his skin, such was the lightness he felt on seeing Aang up and moving, talking.

Katara had come to stand by Aang's side and glare daggers at Azula, which brought Sokka down only for a moment before Aang moved to intercede. This small display by his old friend was enough to force Sokka into rubbing his hands together so as to channel the giddy energy he felt.

"Aang, buddy, maybe we should talk in private? After I get something to eat."

"Okay," said Aang, as he and Katara went to the table while Sokka went for food, followed closely behind by Azula.

Sokka scarfed a plate of beans and rice seasoned with eel. Nekka, Suzi, and Katara sat on one side of the table with Aang, the four of them finishing off their small lunches while Sokka made up for breakfast. Azula ate nothing but the cold air between her and Katara.

As he ate, Sokka wished he could speak to his friend plainly, but there would be time for that soon. Instead he told them all about how he had escaped the clutches of the Old Ones and directed his speech towards Suzi, hoping she would pick up on what he wanted her to do. She had always been adept at reading his desires, a skill she had mainly employed in cooking meals.

"My head still hurts from that weird goo crud, so I'm going to get some air. You with me, Aang?" he asked, picking up his tray.

They were all done eating and returned their trays together before splitting off. He saw Azula break away from the other girls, but his relief was short lived when Katara and her crew followed her. "I'll say it again, Aang, it's good to see you safe," Sokka said when he and Aang were up on the deck, feeling the sea wind on their skin.

"Thanks, I'm happy you and Katara are safe. I'd have gone crazy in your position," said Aang.

"Don't think I didn't," said Sokka. "Man, everything has been beyond nuts."

"That's an understatement. I think the craziest thing is Azula being here."

"Ah, yeah. I guess you heard."

Aang was grinning, his face held mild confusion, but no malice or disdain.

"Well?" Sokka asked.

"Well what? You two make a cute..." his voice broke and he began laughing. Sokka punched him in the arm. "I don't know what to tell you, Sokka," he said, struggling to control his bubbling energy. "Okay, okay, when Katara first told me, I thought you'd lost your mind or Azula had tricked you somehow, but then she told me about what really happened in the south pole and it kinda makes sense. Not to her, of course, but to me it does."

"You're the only one who seems to think so," Sokka said, badly hiding the bitterness he felt.

"I think Katara's given you all the lectures you need to hear so I won't give you any. Just be careful, we don't want to see you get hurt."

"Somehow I knew you'd be okay with it," said Sokka. "But...are you actually okay with it? She did almost kill you, remember?"

"Zuko tried to kill me, too, and he's our friend now. I don't see why Azula can't be, too."

-Azula isn't Zuko,- Sokka almost replied.

"Yeah, exactly. Neither of us has any illusions about how popular she is with the team, and trust me I can't wait to break it to Toph and Suki, but...I thought I might be getting somewhere with Katara, but now I guess she's all bent out of shape again."

Aang sucked in his lower lip and winced. "I don't think you ever got anywhere with Katara," he said. "She doesn't trust Azula at all, and now she thinks she'll try to kill me in the Avatar state so Cthulhu, or whatever it is, doesn't eat my spirit."

Looking at his friend, hearing his voice, all made it hard for Sokka to feel frustrated. He knew the effect Aang had on him would not last much longer, but he decided to enjoy the fleeting peace it brought him while he could. "That's what the Old Ones wanted to do, also this weird guy called Nyarlathotep, but he didn't know how. That's why he helped us."

"Yeah, Katara told me about him. And that Zan guy...so strange. Anyway, I'm not worried about Azula right now. In fact, I want to thank her for her help."

An arm was thrown up over the railing, making the two jump. "No need," said Azula, who had climbed out of a porthole, over the gunwale, and up onto the deck. "Saving you was in my best interest."

Sokka wondered how long she had been hiding there, listening to them, but had no time to ponder it as she ignored their stunned looks and walked up to Aang, her hand extended. He clasped her wrist.

"Thanks anyway," said Aang. "No hard feelings?"

"I don't have hard feelings. They get in the way," she said. "Well then, Avatar, what's the game plan?"

"I don't know," said Aang, clapping Sokka on the shoulder. "Sokka's always been our plan guy, so I was hoping he and I would go chat with our strange friend and figure out what's next. After we save our friends, of course. Oh, and call me Aang."

"Aang," Azula said, the name unfamiliar in her mouth. "Very well. I'd like to sit in on that conversation."

"Great! We'll have the two best planners in the world together," said Aang. "We can't lose."

"Get away from him!" Katara shouted, bursting suddenly onto the deck from the ship's main tower. Nekka and Suzi followed behind, looking unsure of themselves and beaming silent apologies to Sokka.

"It's okay, sweetie, everything's fine," said Aang.

"Everything is not fine," said Katara, her anger quieting like a lull in a storm. "Aang, she almost killed you!"

"Yes, but what have I done lately?" asked Azula.

"Azula..." Sokka said, raising a hand.

"No, I think I'll keep talking, darling," she said, swatting his hand away. "And you, Katara, are going to listen. This is getting ridiculous. I've risked my life for you, your brother, these two, and now him, and this is the thanks I receive? Go right ahead and be suspicious of me, I don't care, but the two people you trust most in the world seem think I'm at least fit to speak to!"

Azula crossed her arms and did a masterful job of looking just the right amount of hurt and assertive.

-She's not looking for pity or fear,- Sokka thought. -Azula, you've got a new trick.- He only hoped Katara countered it with some grace. He was not disappointed.

"Fine," Katara said, folding her hands behind her back. She she bent at forward the hips slightly, but kept her flashing eyes fixed on Azula. "But I'm not sorry for being edgy around people who have hurt Aang."

"It's fine, Katara," said Aang. "Everyone knows we're in this together. Azula's not going to attack me."

Katara was not convinced and they all knew it, but she seemed satisfied enough for the time being to leave Azula in peace. Suzi suggested they go see Piandao and find out how they could best be of service and the trio began to drift away.

"Hold on," said Sokka. "Nekka, we're going to see the Old One. I was hoping you could come along?"

Her gray eyes brightened like disturbed mud puddles and she nodded slowly.

"Okay, we'll catch up later," said Suzi, taking Katara gently by the arm and walking away. Katara's eyes lingered over them, but none could tell who she was glaring at.

Aang led the way to the lower decks where the Old One had been given a small, cave-like cabin. The two guards that had been posted in the dim hallway stood far from the door. The foursome hesitated before entering as if expecting the guards to bar their way or warn them, but neither man said anything, relieved that they were no longer the sole humans in the corridor

The Old One stood like a twisted tree in the dark until Aang used his firebending to light the wall candles. Two of the Old One's red-tipped eye stalks moved to fix on its visitors.

"Hi again," said Aang. "I think everyone's met?"

"Thanks for helping us," said Sokka, remembering what Azula and Katara had done to one of the Old Ones during their escape. "But I've got a few bones to pick with you before we get down to business."

The two eye-tentacles it was using to look at them drifted about lazily in the gloom, giving Sokka the impression of a person rolling their eyes, or a child doing an overly dramatic show of their inner struggle to find words for something. "Speak, then," the Old One said, its voice betraying nothing.

"Was it your people who started the war with the Fire Nation? So you could wipe out the air benders and break the Avatar cycle?"

He had wanted to mention this to Aang before now, but his friend betrayed no great surprise at the question.

"That was not our doing," said the Old One. "Cthulhu draws near enough now so that he can reach beyond the Membrane to those of your kind who are sensitive. He can send messages in dreams, and to the right minds these messages can be as effective as any command. Perhaps he had a hand in it. It would not be the first time, for this is how the shoggoths were turned against us."

"Great. So how about you explain why a tsunami killed hundreds of people in the Fire Nation?"

"As you are aware, the water pressure at that depth is great. We could have worked around it, given time and effort, but we saw no reason to spare either," it said. "Furthermore, the Avatar travels the world, rarely staying in one place for long. The disaster was calculated to bring him close to us."

"How dare you!" Azula shouted, her arm wreathing in flames. Her reaction caught Sokka off guard and he did not react in time to keep her from throwing a fireball. Aang was quicker, and knocked if off course with a gust of air.

The Old One's wings had folded around it, and it backed toward the wall while Sokka kept Azula from getting closer or throwing fire. "Azula! Calm down!" he shouted.

"I will not calm down! That thing murdered hundreds of Fire Nation citizens and now it thinks it's going to get away with it!?"

"We need him," Sokka growled, thinking she had been possessed or lost her mind. "If we screw this up, everyone's going to die, you know that."

Her cheeks were flushed and she seemed genuinely embarrassed over the outburst. The Old One had folded back its wings and shuffled forward using the stubby, starfish arm appendages on its bottom.

"I suspected that was why all along," Azula said, loudly. "I'll overlook the matter for now, but don't expect forgiveness from me or anyone else from my country. Now, monster, tell us how you and your wretched friends did away with Cthulhu the first time."

If the One One had taken offense to any of this, it gave no indication. Sokka doubted anything they could say or do would improve or worsen its view of them, but he kept careful note of its small movements as it spoke just in case there was some bit of body language there to read.

"I can not easily make you understand the inner workings of reality, but suffice to say this universe is encased in a bubble separating it from the void where all other universes can be found, encased in a similar fashion. This bubble you have heard referred to as the Membrane."

It stopped, seemingly waiting for a sign it was being understood. "Yeah, we get that much. We keep hearing stuff about stars being right or whatever."

"You comprehend very little, but your understanding is adequate for our purposessszzz." It coughed, but no mucus came up. "The thickness of the Membrane changes under certain conditions, those being the position of stars and other celestial bodies. The Membrane is thin at this planet's equinoxes, but not normally thin enough for a being as powerful as Cthulhu to pass through."

"The other stars have to be in line, too," pronounced Azula. "Of course, that's why it's been so long since he was here, and why your kind were able to grow lazy and complacent."

The Old One's eye-tentacles were waving. It waited a moment after she had finished, then continued its lecture.

"While enslaved, after we built R'lyeh with the aid of the shoggoths, Cthulhu instructed us to devise a way for him to reach the being at the center of this universe, whom you have heard called Azathoth. We set about to do this, but instead built a machine that tore a hole in the Membrane and pulled Cthulhu into the void along with many of his greater servants. Just as the Machine could tear holes in the Membrane, so could it thicken it. Had the shoggoths not been turned against us by Cthulhu working from beyond, it would be up and running as we speak."

"Only we wouldn't be speaking, would we?" asked Azula.

Sokka shot her a dirty look and she turned her nose up, but said no more. "So, how do we get this machine going again? I take it if it was easy, you guys would do it on your own?"

"Where we live now is our last bastion; our numbers dwindle, and our enemies have not been idle on this planet" said the Old One. "We could not reach the south pole easily, and before we went we would have needed a certain element that powers the device, one not readily found, even by us."

"And you never thought to ask us, because we're little more than cockroaches fit to be squashed," said Azula, her mouth forming a subtle sneer that Sokka wondered if the Old One was capable of appreciating.

"Yes," was the Old One's reply, and for the first time Sokka detected some emotion from it. Azula seemed happy about this and stepped gingerly forward.

"Well, it seems we're not so far below you after all. How sad for you."

"Azula, please," Sokka said. "I'm guessing this element you're talking about is a big, green crystal?"

"Yes, the ones the submarine builder was studying. I've deduced that the remaining star-spawn on this planet captured a shoggoth and used it to subvert his research. Cthulhu and his servants do not quite understand how our machine worked, but they are putting the pieces together."

Sokka punched his palm, suddenly on edge. "Did the shoggoths break your machine? Can we repair it?"

"The shoggoths do not have the capacity to damage it significantly. It was not something we trusted them with. They have managed to incapacitate it, and ironically will serve to guard it against our enemies as well as us. They serve no one now, you see."

"You're talking about the city under the south pole?" Azula asked. "We barely escaped with our lives from that place. How many shoggoths live there?"

"Their numbers fluctuate. One can become many, and many can become one. It was on their backs we built R'lyeh and the rest of our cities, and we did not want for labor."

"Helpful," said Azula, crossing her arms. "We'll need an army, perhaps."

"I don't know," said Sokka. "Remember what happened to Hoplo's expedition? They all went crazy in those caves. The shoggoths have weird mind powers or something."

"Not all of them went crazy. You didn't. It takes a special kind of mind to be vulnerable to that sort of thing. An army of commoners should be fine," said Azula.

"Enough," said Aang, when Sokka went to chastise her. "So once we free our friends we can get this crystal to the south pole and get this machine working. We've also got some time until the stars become right and Cthulhu shows up, right?"

"Yep," said Sokka, biting his lip, knowing how weeks and months had a way of slipping by faster when one did not want them to.

"Not so," said the Old One, chilling the air with its strange voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Sokka.

"As I said, our enemies are not idle. They have been scattered so far, but they will unite against us soon. They will attack us directly and given time they may learn enough to thwart our ultimate goal. The shoggoths lack the capacity to destroy the machine themselves, but Cthulhu's servants are not so limited. We must secure the polar city soon, before the shoggoths are bypassed."

"Yes! And to do that we need my brother freed from his madness so we'll have the Fire Nation at our backs," said Azula.

Sokka felt all eyes upon him, even Aang's. Rather than feel overwhelmed, Sokka felt energized, his aches and pains fading away as his mind began to churn over all the pieces it had been given to consider.

-888-

They found themselves gathered in the ship's war room. Sokka sat beside Azula and it was not lost on him that everyone else, Aang, Katara, Nekka, and Suzi sat on the other side of the table. At one end of the was Piandao, the other Iroh. The Mechanist and Teo were aboard the submarine, laying schemes for recovering the strange, green crystal that would power the Old Ones' machine at the south pole.

"This is the simplest of our three tasks, actually," Azula stated.

"How so?" asked Katara.

Sokka had wanted this meeting to be smaller, but if Katara and Azula were both going to be there he supposed it was best to have a group to keep them calm.

"Isn't it obvious? Zuko told everyone that Sokka murdered the Avatar and ran off with Suzi on the sky bison. All we have to do is fly in with the Avatar and his lies will come undone. His own guards will hold him still while the Avatar fixes him."

Nervousness went from one to the other around the table like an electric current, shorting out when it came around to Azula. "What? What's wrong with that plan?" she asked, her palms slapping the table.

"We all saw how stable Zuko's rule turned out to be after the people thought he'd been gone too long," Katara said. "Who knows what will happen when they find out he's been possessed by the minions of some spirit monster that's trying to destroy the world."

Sokka tried to quell Azula's anger with a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off and stood. "You just won't give it a rest, will you?" she shouted. "The very world is at stake and you're playing politics!"

"I'm playing politics!?" Katara shouted, rising as well. Aang got her to sit, and Azula went down when Iroh slammed his fist on the table.

"Stop it!" he shouted, causing their backs to straighten. "Azula is right about one thing, this is no time for petty schemes! But," he said, calming. "Katara is on to something. If we make the raw truth about Zuko known to everyone, there's no telling what could happen. We might lose support from some generals and lives will be at stake. We'd risk a civil war, and we don't have time for something like that."

"Right, but..." Sokka curled his lips back, seeing his sister's eyes blazing at him and the look of uncertainty from the others, especially Aang. "What we need to remember is that while our friends are possessed, they're basically hostages. If we fly into the Fire Nation, and let's say all we get is Zuko, word is going to spread to the others and who knows what they'll do to our friends' bodies? If we can't get them all at once, we have to get them in secret, and in any case it's gotta be done fast. I'm worried sick right now they'll find out we rescued Aang and do something awful."

"So, it's a stealth mission we're planning after all," said Iroh, clapping his hands and wringing them. "Some tea will help us clear our minds and come up with a plan we can all agree on."

-888-

The bright stars and moon swam above them in a sea of clouds while the black waters lapped at the ship's steel hull. The smokestack spewed soot into the air, leaving a trail behind it like a black banner forever unfurling. Sokka stood on the deck, watching the smoke stretch out behind them as the night breeze penetrated his thin tunic and tightened his skin. It was time to head back to his quarters where ice or scalding heat awaited him.

He expected her to be sitting in the middle of the room or on the bed, not standing next to the door when he came in. The lamp cast half her face in blue light, the other was dark and blended with her hair. "Where have you been all day?" she asked.

"Planning the rest of our mission," he said. "I was hoping you'd stick around to help, but Iroh knows the city pretty well, too."

"Guess you don't need me at all, then," she said, moving past him to the bed.

"You're just mad I didn't agree with your plan. I don't think you're up to anything, you know."

She shook her head and seemed put-out that she could not rouse herself to anger. "I hate this."

"What do you mean?" he asked, kicking off his boots and sitting next to her. "I'd think you'd be used to people watching their backs around you by now." He said it as a joke and was prepared for a pinch or a punch, not the wounded look he received.

"I could live with people not trusting me, it's just another form of fear. This is different. You were right about how to attack Zuko, but if I had been right it wouldn't have mattered. They'd have done the opposite just because it was me who said it."

He stroked his chin and watched the blue flame flicker, the strange color making the shadows appear deeper. He felt himself become restless at the memories the flames invoked. "Katara, yeah, totally. Me, no, and I think Piandao and Iroh both know a sound strategy when they hear one. You got nothing to worry about."

"Will I even be allowed on this mission?" she asked.

"Of course. You play a key part. We're heading for the Fire Nation as we speak."

"I could tell," she said, leaning into him. "It'll be good to see home again."

"I never thought I'd miss the Fire Nation," he said. "But what's really going to make me happy is my friends being themselves again. After that, all we gotta do is roast some shoggoths at the south pole. Nothing we haven't done before, right?"

She was shaking, so he put his arm around her, kissed her ear and whispered, as if her fear were some terrible secret. "I'll be right next to you the entire time we're down there. Me and probably hundreds of people. We'll be prepared," he said.

"It's not that," Azula said. "I'm no more afraid of that place than you are, it's...it sounds so stupid, but I'm afraid of what happens after we win."

"Oh," he said. "Yeah, I guess we'll have some decisions to make."

"You think Zuko is a good person, and I suppose he's honorable enough, but I've done things to make him hate me, Sokka. Hate, and fear. He's not going to let me walk free, and I told you I won't go back to that asylum."

"You won't," Sokka said, squeezing her. "I'll make sure of that."

"That will cost you, you know. I know you don't want to hear it, but your friends will make you pay for me."

He wanted to argue, but knew that despite the crass way she put it, it was true, they would make him pay. Dearly in some cases. Some might charge up front, some might collect over a longer period, but she would certainly cost him.

She was shuddering while he was stone still, both of them in the grip of a distant dread. The light in the room flickered, and her quaking stopped when he kissed her neck. He felt her arms slide under his tunic, and the stone stillness of his body melted.


	24. A Fine Day for an Exorcism

“If I had known your plan was going to be this stupid, I'd have made you sleep on the floor,” said Azula as Sokka fitted her wrists with iron manacles, fondly remembering the night before.

“That's why I was so glad you didn't ask for details until morning,” Sokka said, grinning. 

The sun had risen as if on a mission, and it made the haze that ringed the horizon look like a band of hot steam. Sokka wore a Fire Nation sailing outfit while Azula was dressed in a torn, blue tunic. In the distance, flying signal flags, were two Fire Nation cruisers that had been sighted and signaled in the gloomy hours before the sun had fully come up.

“They're part of the group searching for us,” Piandao had said. “We just have to get them to agree to do this our way.”

Their plan was for Piandao to turn over Princess Azula in exchange for being brought back into Fire Lord's good graces. This would bring them all into the Fire Nation, and hopefully get them close enough to Zuko to make their move. Once it was made so Zuko would not be able to flee or warn the others, they could reveal Aang and the entire truth to Zuko's Royal Fire Guards.

“They're telling us to stop while they approach,” said Piandao. “Places everyone.”

It took another hour after Azula was manacled for the two ships to come alongside Piandao's vessel. Each was bustling with sailors and soldiers, but only a few boarded. Piandao spoke with a man who appeared to be a first mate or a captain, and who seemed to have a great deal of respect for the rogue soldier. They all saw Azula and eyed her warily while she made herself look like a convincing prisoner, head down, shoulders slumped. Piandao was scant on the details about how she had been captured, but his reputation prevented them from asking too many questions.

Sokka could not believe their good fortune when the other sailors decided to leave Azula aboard the ship and escorted it north, into Fire Nation waters. 

They sailed another day and night with a ship not far on either side of them. In the meantime, Azula was brought below decks where she was unshackled. Sokka spent his time going between her and his friends, for they cared not to mingle. Each time he returned to her, she was more surely and snippish than before, but at night she took her loneliness and frustration out on him, leaving him aching and sore in the morning, but with little in the way of worries despite how nebulous and uncertain the immediate future was.

In the middle of the second day they sighted a fleet of ships near a large island. They were signaled by their escorts to pull ahead and stopped so the fleet could surround them. Azula was brought up again in chains. Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Suzi were on the deck as well, disguised as sailors, while Nekka remained below decks. Appa was covered with a sheet, hidden on the aft deck and ready to make his appearance if needed. 

The ship that pulled up next to them was an Empire class battleship, long, hulking and black. It flowed with Fire Nation banners denoting its royal bearing, and as they flapped and inspired awe they also drew confusion.

Inside the Fire Nation's traditional flame emblem was a pentagram. Inside of that, a circle with twisting lines pointing downward. It was a crude representation of a squid-monster's face. 

Sokka's mouth moved soundlessly at first, fearing his voice would dispel what he perceived as unbelievable good fortune. 

“Is that...?”

“Yes,” said Piandao, excitement tinting his voice despite his calm appearance. “The Fire Lord himself.”

“Let's not get too excited just yet,” Sokka said, seeing his disguised friends had also noted the significance of the massive craft that approached. 

Sokka still thought it would be some high-ranking admiral who would meet them and try to take the princess aboard his ship. That Zuko might walk right into their clutches on the open sea was too sweet a thought to bear having dashed, and so he dared not hope.

-Boy, it would be nice, though. Some good vibes from the universe for a change,- he thought, allowing himself a little mental indulgence. 

The larger ship seemed still in the water as they drew up alongside it. The defaced banners that flew from the high towers cast flapping shadows over the smaller vessel's deck. When the ship stopped a panel on the side of the battleship slid away and a gangplank was extended, down which marched two rows of Royal Fire Guard.

Amidst them was Zuko, decked out in royal finery and looking maniacally pleased with himself, a feeling Sokka felt he had more of a right to but could not express. Standing on his toes, he scanned the guards and the firebenders that had lined the gunwale of the upper deck. He could see nothing of Toph, Suki, or even Ty Lee or Mai. There was no one in Kyoshi Warrior armor, either. 

-Even better,- Sokka thought, hoping everyone would play it cool until it came time to act.

“Piandao, I presume,” said Zuko, standing before the man as he stood in a simple, black tunic.

“Fire Lord Zuko, you presume correctly. I hope the lessons I taught you many years ago remain with you, even if the memory of me does not.”

The Royal Fire Guards all wore face masks, but their bodies betrayed no sign that they had noticed the Fire Lord's faux pas.

“I had many teachers, but only one sister. Bring her to me,” said Zuko.

Azula had been brought up by Piandao's men, who gave way to a host of Royal Fire Guard who forgot their fear once they got a clear look at Azula's chains and slumped shoulders. When they had her, she stood up straight, making them all become tense as they led her before the Fire Lord. 

Sokka had been among the men around Azula. He could not see her face, but he could easily read Zuko's and it appeared puzzled over something.

“My dearest sister, I'm so glad you've been found safe and sound. I trust your wanderings have done your mind some good?” Zuko said, his words spoken loud for all to hear as a stiff ocean wind picked up and the gangplank behind them creaked. 

“I'm like a whole new person,” Azula said. “As you seem to be.”

Time had slowed down as it always did right before it was about to speed up and tear everything apart. 

Sokka removed his helmet. “Zuko!” he shouted. “Long time no see, buddy! I heard you were looking for me, too!”

The smarmy look on the false Fire Lord's face collapsed into one of cold anger. “Guards, seize him!”

“For what? Killing the Avatar?” he gestured with a flourish to Aang, who doffed his hood with a gust of air and raised twin plumes of fire from his palms. 

“That's not the Fire Lord!” Aang shouted. “It's an imposter!” 

The Royal Fire Guard were trained well. At the first sign of any trouble, they closed in to protect the Fire Lord, but the move was based solely on instinct. When Zuko ignited his hands and sought to scorch the rest of his face into a complete ruin, Azula jumped into action.

Her feet had not been shackled, and they were all she needed. She charged the Royal Fire Guard in front of Zuko, jumped, and rolled over his back, bringing her heel down on the side of Zuko's neck hard enough to knock him to the ground and extinguish his flames.

All this happened inside of a moment, and when Azula landed hard on the deck in a clatter of chains there was complete chaos. Limbs were pulled, flames flashed, heads and arms were clubbed, all amidst a clamor of shouts and curses.

The Royal Fire Guard standing directly behind Zuko had caught on to what had really happened, and it was they who restrained their Fire Lord, preventing him from doing any lasting harm to himself as he recovered from being stunned. 

Aang moved among the larger men like a breeze, and some of the sharper guards let him pass. Sokka saw that Zuko was being held in a kneeling position while Aang put both hands on his head. The wind around them kicked up and Sokka felt his skin prickle at the amount of chi being moved. Aang was struggling, not only to keep his hands on Zuko, who thrashed wildly, but against some unseen force that was either trying to remain inside Zuko's body or force itself into Aang's.

Suddenly something black streaked out of Zuko's eyes and mouth and into the air, knocking everyone around him backward before it dispersed. The Fire Lord lay in a crumpled heap while Iroh rushed over to him. The old man shouted orders, which were obeyed, and lifted Zuko in his arms. Katara was close behind as they went up the gangplank into the the battleship with dozens of confused guards and sailors following behind as if pulled by a vacuum. 

Sokka held the key to Azula's shackles and he undid them as he helped her to her feet. “Nice job, you saved Zuko,” he said. 

“What? Oh, yes, of course.”

He held her hands and let the iron chains fall to the deck. “It's going to be okay,” he said, watching her search for an emotion to project onto her face.

Suzi was suddenly beside them. “We should find out where the others are and make sure they're not on any of these ships. We should also try to keep word of this from spreading any farther. You saw what the Fire Lord...what the thing tried to make him do when he was caught.”

“Good thinking. I'll get Piandao to round up some guys and we'll get that taken care of.” He hugged Azula. “This went way better than I expected.”

“We were beyond lucky just now,” she said. “Let's hope the other monsters are just as arrogant and complacent.”

Sokka crossed his fingers and held them before her so she could first scowl, then smile. 

-888-

The two hours that followed Zuko's exorcism were a flurry of confusion and activity. Sokka called for a meeting of the other ship captains aboard the royal battleship where they were all debriefed in private, below decks. Sokka asked them all if any of their men, or anyone they knew at all, had been acting strange since the Fire Lord returned from searching for the Avatar. The question drew some responses, but by the end Sokka was relieved to have found no evidence of more widespread star-spawn possession. 

“Sokka, was it? When can we see the Fire Lord? This is all very strange, and...”

One of the captains, an older man with a narrow beard, was speaking. Sokka nodded to cut him off before his suspicions could gain momentum. “Hopefully you can see him soon. Honestly, I know as much as you do about how he's doing, but my sister and the Avatar are with him so there should be nothing to worry about. Except...” he let the word hang in the air, inviting the other men to finish it. Each man looked less a sea captain and more like someone who frequented the Fire Lord's court. Men who would talk, orders or no orders. 

“Except keep all this hush-hush, yes, we know,” said the thinly bearded captain. “You think spirits have possessed others?”

“Yes, a few. And it's super important that they don't get wind of this or else bad things might happen,” Sokka said, for the third time since he began dealing with these men. Using spirits to explain Cthulhu and his minions had been a handy shortcut to making them understand without saying too much in the way of details, even the spirit world was baffling to most people. 

The captains all regarded him with narrow, dark eyes. That Aang was clearly alive was the only reason this was working, Sokka knew, and once he was satisfied that the men were as sworn to secrecy as they could be he took his leave of them. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, turning back around and making the captains jump. “Your crews don't have anyone with the, er, Outer-Maw look, do they?”

A few captains sounded out “Outer-Maw look” with their lips, but some of them, including the one with the thin beard nodded. “Aye, maybe a few. Such types are rarely fit for the navy, but they turn up from time to time. Why do you ask?”

“As quietly as you can, isolate those men on one of the ships. Don't tell them anything and make sure they don't send out any messages. Keep them away from the water, got it?”

“Why? Are these men traitors? We have ways of...”

“No, no, no,” said Sokka, not wanting to condemn anyone who just happened to be ugly. “It's a long story, just get it done and get it done quietly. I'm sure the Fire Lord will be glad to hear from his top adviser that everything was handled nice and professionally.”

These men did not like taking any kind of direction from a Water Tribe member, especially one that had been a wanted enemy of the state only hours before, but it was known to them that Sokka was close to Zuko, and perhaps their desire to curry his favor would override their inclination for gossip. He left them when he was assured they would carry on as he had instructed and went to the battleship where he knew some of the guards. 

They asked him to halt before Zuko's chamber while a porter went to see if the Fire Lord could have more visitors. Katara would be making the call, so Sokka did not see the point of the formality, but it did allow time for one of the guards to pull up his face guard. Sokka recognized him but could not recall his name. 

“We're glad the Avatar is here,” the man whispered. “It was like a nightmare before. The Fire Lord just kept getting stranger and stranger.”

“No one's taking those banners down, are they?” asked Sokka, remembering the new Fire Nation flag designs. 

“We're going to soon,” said the guard. “I've never been a spiritual man, but something about the stuff the Fire Lord was saying just sounded wrong.”

Sokka was intrigued, but only had time to tell the guard not to remove the banners just yet before he was hastily ushered into Zuko's room.

Braziers and wall sconces kept the wide room bright and hot. Zuko was sitting up in a bed seeing his sullen, worried face set Sokka to beaming.

“Zuko!” he shouted, and was viciously shushed by Iroh and Katara who were on either side of him. 

Zuko raised his eyelids, and for a moment was the bright young man that normally lay under his cloudy, careworn exterior. 

“Sokka!” he said, extending his hand. His grip was tight, and said everything his mouth could not. “I hear you've been saving the world again.” 

“Mostly just running for my life and causing trouble,” said Sokka. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just woke up from the worst nightmare of my life,” Zuko said. “I'm so glad I saw you at the asylum...I could see and hear everything the entire time. Every time that monster did something, I just...”

“Zuko, you don't need to do this now,” said Katara, laying her hands on his arm.

“Rest, Zuko, there will be time for talk soon,” said his uncle.

“No, I'm fine,” Zuko said, drawing himself up. “We need to rescue the others immediately. You have no idea how awful it is being possessed like that. I didn't go crazy only because I knew how worried the monster was about finding you all, so I thought we still had a chance. Then at the asylum, when I saw you...I don't know what's keeping the others sane, if anything. We need to move now.”

His words were like a whip against Sokka's back, and he quickly told him what he had asked of the captains and why, then told Zuko he needed to make an appearance soon. 

“I think they're having a hard time swallowing this,” said Sokka. “But you shouldn't rush out of bed if you're still messed up.” This he added before Katara could argue. 

“No, I need to be seen on my feet. This is an order. Get my clothes and get me something to eat. I need to talk to Aang so we can figure out how we're going to rescue the others.”

“Where are they?” asked Katara. 

“Toph and Suki are in the Fire Nation with the other Kyoshi Warriors. Ty Lee and Mai were sent to the Northern Water Tribe to meet with the cult there, and to secure some old books from the library. I can have Toph, Suki, and the others brought someplace where we can get them, but I'm worried about Mai and Ty Lee. You saw what the thing in me tried to make me do when the charade was over.”

His fists clenched and his scarred eye twitched. Zuko's unspoken words about Azula hung in the air like a bad smell. There was no anger in his face, but a hardness had crept into it that was familiar there. “I'd like a minute with Sokka alone,” Zuko said as a porter brought in fresh clothes for the Fire Lord. 

Katara's eyes sparkled with grim satisfaction as she stood and walked out of the room with Iroh and the porter. 

Swallowing hard, Sokka forgot the words he had long planned to utter, the ones that had sounded so right in his head when they were formless and unspoken. The silence stretched on as Zuko slid out of bed and dressed in breeches and a red tunic. As he fixed his top-knot with his crown, he turned to face Sokka. “You're making a mistake,” he said. 

Sokka shrugged. “Wouldn't be the first time.”

“I know what you two have been through together. If she were anyone else I'd say you have a strong bond, but trust me, it's one sided. She's using you, and when she's done you'll end up hurt, probably in more ways than one. She's not like other people, Sokka. I know her. Mai and Ty Lee know her.”

“You're wrong,” Sokka blurted. “Well, okay, you're not completely wrong, but overall you're wrong about her. She's changed. She sees things differently now.”

Zuko put his hand on Sokka's shoulder and held him with a hard stare. “I grew up with Azula. I watched her become what she is, what she always was. She's got some admirable qualities I'll admit, but one thing you've got to remember about Azula is that she always lies. People are just Pai Sho pieces to her and she'll use them in any way she can to get what she wants, which is power and control.”

His hand slid off Sokka's shoulder and the look on his face was one Sokka had never wanted to punch more. 

“You'd be surprised how much good some fresh air and sunshine will do for person who's had a mental break-down, you know, as opposed to locking them up in a dark cell for three years,” Sokka said.

He crossed his arms and squared his stance, prompting the Fire Lord to stand a few inches closer to him. He could smell Zuko's breath and feel the heat coming off him as his anger grew. “Well, maybe if a certain someone had seen fit to tell me what she was really dealing with, then maybe locking her in a cell isn't what I would have done.”

Sokka clenched his teeth and felt his fingers ache for the handle of his lost boomerang. He flinched when Zuko squeezed his shoulder. “Look, people think I hate Azula, but I don't. It's just that I could write a book about the things she's done over the years...”

Brushing his hand off, Sokka shook his head but kept his voice calm. “I'm really tired of hearing about how awful Azula is, okay? She did bad stuff to me and my friends, too, but guess who else did?”

Zuko's bottom lip curled, but this was an old barb, one he'd been stuck with many times. “If you were the only one in jeopardy I'd let you learn your lesson, but you're not. Azula is dangerous and she plays the long game better than anyone, and it's going to take a lot more than a few good deeds to get me to trust her.” He held up a hand to keep Sokka from talking. “We can discuss this later. I'm willing to hear you, and her, out, but in the meantime this is how it's going to be. She's not going to be allowed to go and do whatever she wants. When she's not with you, she's under guard. I think that's fair for now. And besides, we've got more important things to worry about than who's dating who.”

“I couldn't agree more,” Sokka said, some of his anger leaving him like steam. He moved back a few steps, letting the Fire Lord have his victory. “Please tell me she's not going back to that asylum at least.”

Zuko blinked slowly, his scarred eye twitching. “Your sister and your new friends told me a lot of things, things about Azula's behavior that didn't exactly rule that possibility out.”

“What? You can't be serious.”

“Look, you're a smart guy, but you're not a healer. You don't know if she's well enough to be trusted.”

“No, I'm not a healer, but I'm your adviser, remember? Or don't you trust my advice?”

“I can't be sure whose advice it really is anymore, now can I?” said Zuko. 

Sokka's hands trembled and he turned away to keep himself from making a bad mistake. “Fine, guess I'll just keep it to myself from now on, then,” he said, storming from the room. His sister, Aang, and Iroh were in the hall, and he met none of their eyes as he went past them, ignoring Aang's calls. 

-888-

“This is an outrage!” Azula shouted into the night air from the deck of Piandao's ship as it floated in the harbor along with the other long, dark vessels, their smokestacks dead and empty save for the lingering smell of burnt coal. “I should be in those manacles, not her!”

“There's plenty of extra pairs,” Sokka said, leaning against the gunwale. “We could use them below deck while we wait.”

“Shut up, pig,” she spat, but her face betrayed her. “I'm a princess, you can't speak to me like that.”

“I'm the Fire Lord's former adviser, sure I can,” he said.

“You don't want to be a former anything in the Fire Nation,” Azula said, moving to peer over the gunwale into the black, rippling water below. A moonless night hung over them, its canopy of stars smeared by long, thin clouds. 

“I don't think your brother is as banishment-happy as your dad was,” Sokka said. “Where is old Ozai, anyway?”

“Still in prison I would assume,” said Azula. “I have nothing to say to him. He's as bad as those friends of mine. You know he never sent me a single letter in three years? And don't tell me he wasn't allowed. Those stupid healers were always asking me to write moronic letters to people like him.”

Sokka was not about to argue in favor of Azula seeing her father, and so he let her statements rest. He had been leery all that evening of saying anything that would get her going, but for once his anger matched hers.

They had been left behind. Zuko had asked Suzi to stand in for Azula when they brought her to the royal dungeons to meet with Toph and Suki. According to Zuko, the imposters would happily come to help with the interrogation and their suspicions would not be aroused by the summons.

“He's intentionally denying me the chance to prove myself,” said Azula. “He wants them all to keep on hating me so it will be easier for him to get rid of me. Zuzu can be quite devious when he wants to be, as I'm sure you learned once upon a time.”

“You definitely don't bring out the best in him,” Sokka said, leaning against the ship's gunwale. 

“What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me you're taking his side this soon?”

“No, I'm just saying he's got a lot of strong feelings connected with you. Yeah, he's being a jerk, but you have to admit he's going to need more time than anyone before he trusts you.”

“I shouldn't need time! I didn't do anything wrong! He's the one who turned his back on us, not me. Oh, forget it, look who I'm talking to.” She crossed her arms, then had to brush strands of her black hair from her face as the wind shook them loose from their knot.

“Okay, fine, everyone's against you, so let's do this then. Come with me,” he said, taking her hand and leading her toward the bow.

“What is it? Where are we going?”

“Shhh. Suki and Toph are two of my favorite people. I should be there for them, right? Right?”

“Yes, of course,” said Azula who despite something dangerous and odd in her voice caught on to his meaning and followed him down a gangplank to the dock. Guards had been posted, but Sokka was free to walk where he chose and distracted them long enough for Azula to slip around. 

“You know the dungeons better than I do,” Sokka said when they were away. “Where's this receiving room they were talking about?”

“This way,” she said, and led him through the dark, stone streets between narrow, sea-smelling alleys and damp steel columns that supported the seaside warehouses. 

The dungeons were up a long, winding hill, built into the side of a cliff that had broken off from the giant volcano that housed the upper portion of the capital city. This time of night and in this part of town there were few people out who were not soldiers or sailors, and it was here they decided to take some care in not being seen. They did this by sticking to the shadows when they could and walking as though they were two drunk lovers whenever they could not avoid scrutiny. Azula wore her hair down, which helped her go unrecognized while Sokka donned a red and black cloak over his blue tunic, giving him the look of a Fire Nation citizen. 

The entrance to the dungeon was a set of double doors, but Azula pointed to a rocky ledge that hung over one of the side streets. She scaled it easily while it took Sokka few minutes of finding proper handholds. When they were both up, they climbed a bit more to a walkway and from there slipped inside. 

“The security here is atrocious,” said Azula. “More evidence of Zuzu's ineptitude.”

The Fire Nation banners hung on the walls of the large hall below the balcony they stood on. They bore the markings of Cthulhu like the ones on the ships. According to Zuko, the monster that had been controlling him was planning on making as many people as it could devotees of Cthulhu, passing him off as some sort of great sea spirit all in preparation for his return on the spring equinox. Mankind's devotion would only last as long as their lives and sanity, so not long, but Cthulhu would be pleased with the work his servants had done all the same.

A balcony took them to where they overlooked a stone chamber lit by flickering torches. Two rows of soldiers faced each other, and in between them knelt Suzi, shackled with her head bowed. Zuko stood behind her dressed in full regalia while the two attendants behind him wore heavy hooded robes. Sokka knew the plan, when Toph and Suki got close, the attendants, Katara and Aang would attack, meanwhile the soldiers would try to restrain the possessed Kyoshi Warriors. 

The sound of the double doors opening filled the entire hall and almost drowned out the heavy approaching footsteps. Sokka's breathing halted momentarily when he saw Suki and Toph followed by several Kyoshi Warriors. 

How anyone could have been duped by them he did not know. They moved wrong, especially Toph, who seemed less sure of her footing than normal. Suki, who had always reminded Sokka of an armadillo lion with her quiet, graceful power now looked like a puppet on strings. The other warriors walked with about as much ease, which soothed Sokka's nerves, for he knew true Kyoshi Warriors could make short work of Royal Fire Guards.

Sokka's relief died after he completed a quick head count. “They didn't bring enough people,” he said. “Look.”

“You think they'll try to slit their own throats? Bite their own tongues off?” Azula asked, seeing for herself that there were not enough soldiers present to overpower each warrior. 

“Yeah, something like that. Get ready on my mark.”

They were high up, but Sokka had taken long falls before. He planned to land first on another balcony below, then make the rest of the leap, hopefully onto a Kyoshi Warrior who could take the hit without being too injured.

“Greetings, Fire Lord,” said Toph, he tone several layers of fake. “Has the traitor yielded anything of note?”

“Wow, even I can tell...” Azula whispered, but was cut off by Zuko's booming voice.

“Seize them!”

Sokka jumped, seeing the Kyoshi Warriors towards the end of the line would not be covered by the guards. His feet hit the lower balcony and he pitched forward, throwing himself at the warrior he had sighted and realizing he would miss her badly.

Azula reached the ground ahead of him and did so far more gracefully. She engaged two Kyoshi Warriors while the room was enveloped in chaos. 

The stone beneath their feet heaved as Toph's monster used what little it could of her bending. Sokka had landed without breaking any bones, but the Kyoshi Warrior he had targeted was lunging for him rather than trying to harm herself.

She slammed her armored knee into his face, but her skills had been greatly diminished and so all he suffered was a bloody nose. He grabbed her leg before she could get her balance and flipped her onto her back where he pinned her and used his forearm to keep her jaw shut so she could not bite her tongue. 

All around him the skirmishes were ending the same way, with Royal Fire Guards subduing the diminished and surprised warriors without causing them harm or letting them harm themselves. All except Azula, who had simply knocked her two opponents unconscious. 

Sokka had not witnessed Suki and Toph being saved, but he saw Aang working his way down the line of Kyoshi Warriors like a machine. Used to the mindbending technique, he performed it quickly and with little fuss, aside from a worried look when he reached Sokka.

“What did you do to them?” Katara asked, checking on the warriors Azula had knocked out after Aang exorcized them. 

“I gave them a little tap on the head so they wouldn't injure themselves,” Azula said. “They're tough, you know.” 

“You! I told both of you to stay behind,” bellowed Zuko, walking up behind Katara. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping,” said Sokka. “Looks like we were needed, too. Is anyone hurt?”

“Just bumps and bruises,” said Katara. “These two got it the worst.”

“Well, I couldn't manhandle two at the same time, so it was this or let them kill someone,” said Azula. 

“Guards, escort her back to the ship,” Zuko said, then looked at Sokka. “You, go with her.”

“Let me see Suki and Toph!” Sokka shouted, shoving his way past the guards to the bodies of his two friends. They were on the ground in a deep sleep. 

He could not stop himself. He knelt by Suki and removed her helmet, brushing her hair from her painted face. The thing inside her had made a few mistakes with the application, he noted. “Suki,” he said. “Suki, it's me, Sokka.”

Katara was beside him, kneeling. “She'll be okay. It took Zuko some time to wake up, don't worry.”

“Get me when she comes to. Let me explain everything,” he said.

“Okay, I will, just get going so Zuko calms down.”

Zuko was glaring at his sister, and rather than glare back, her eyes were on Sokka, shimmering like pools of yellow acid. Aang had come between them and looked down at Sokka as if he were a burn victim.

Azula turned away, walking fast. Sokka followed, and a group of guards trotted after them.

“Azula, wait,” he said. When she looked back, her hair out of place once more, it was like he had been hit with a fire whip in the chest. She tore away from him and broke into a run.

They soon outdistanced the heavily armored guards, and it took all of Sokka's speed and cunning to keep up with her as she darted through the alleys and side streets. He caught her in a dead-end and when she wheeled around on him a thin blue flame grew from her two fingers. “Get away from me,” she said, making his stomach clench.

“Azula, don't do this, please. Talk to me.”

“Last warning.”

“I'm not going anywhere.”

Blue fire flashed in front of his face as his legs were kicked out from under him. The ground behind him was on fire, and he rolled away to keep from being burned. He got to his feet, but the flames prevented him from giving chase. They burned hot, but fast, and when they were gone so was Azula.


	25. Love of Madness

No one told Sokka he was a prisoner, but two guards had been posted outside his cabin door, one of whom would offer to send for a porter if he tried to go out under any pretext. Laying on his bed, he watched the yellow light of a lantern flicker over the steel ceiling and walls.

"I knew this would happen," he muttered to the dancing light. Grinning painfully, he wondering what the Old One would say to him now if he went to its chamber and told it of all his woes.

-Let's see, its friends are mad at it and it's probably wondering if it made the right choice on who to hang out with,- Sokka thought. -I think we'd understand each other just fine for once.-

Footsteps outside his door heralded a knock. "Who is it?"

"It's me," said Aang.

Sokka got up and opened the door. Aang seemed especially small standing between the two guards. "Hi, Sokka. Zuko wants to talk with you."

"I told him already I don't know where Azula is. He knows her so well, why doesn't he track her down? Too bad good old Sparky Sparky Boom Man got blown up, Zuko could just send him!"

Aang cocked an eyebrow, perhaps having forgotten the strange firebender who had once been sent by Zuko to kill them. "Oh, ha, ha. I remember him now," Aang said. "Nah, no one's going to make you come, but I'm pretty sure Zuko really wants to see you. It'll be quick."

Biting his lower lip, Sokka could not bear to take his anger out on Aang, and so he doused the lamp in his cabin and went with the young man into the night.

The two guards followed behind, Aang kept his voice low when he spoke. "Sokka, I'll back you up here, but you've got to understand that Zuko is the Fire Lord and this is the Fire Nation. I can't tell him what to do here. I can't tell anybody what to do."

"I'm not asking you to tell anybody to do anything, Aang," Sokka said louder than necessary. "But Zuko listens to you, so maybe point out to him that he's wasting his time worrying about Azula right now. And when can I see Toph and Suki? Are they okay?"

"They're fine, just worn out," said Aang, walking faster.

Zuko had made the battleship the center of his operations, as it was easier to keep track of who came and went than the palace. He had ordered messengers sent to the Northern Water Tribe to have Mai and Ty Lee return at once to the Fire Nation, the plan being to intercept them before they could catch on to what was happening and harm themselves or disappear.

The battleship's war room was like the one at the palace, only on a smaller scale and with less fire. Zuko sat on a raised platform and to Sokka's surprise he appeared less healthy than he had when possessed. His eyes were dull amber stones set into black bowls, and his skin resembled parchment. Every move he made was painfully deliberate, as if he was having trouble getting used to being in control of his body.

Toph and Suki were off to one side, the former staring into space while her head turned ever so slightly towards the newcomers.

Suki's face had been turned towards him seemingly before he entered the room, and under her eyes he felt like a man stricken with pentapox. He offered her a weak smile, one that disappeared when he saw his sister, wearing her sad satisfaction like a stain.

"Guards, leave us," said Zuko. The men filed out in a quick, orderly fashion, having grown accustomed in recent days to being ordered away. "Well? Has she tried to contact you?"

"Like I keep saying, no. Your ex-girlfriend is still possessed by a monster and this is what you're worried about?" asked Sokka.

"I'm doing all I can for her and Ty Lee as we speak, and you know it," Zuko said. "Right now, their lives depend on everyone who knows what's going on to keep things quiet, and not knowing where Azula is makes me very, very nervous."

"You're unbelievable," said Sokka. "You really think she would sell anyone out to Cthulhu? She hates that thing, you have to know that. Back me up on this, Katara."

Katara licked her lips and looked like a person about to leap from a cliff. "Sokka, do you remember what you told us about the temple in the swamp? About what that awful yellow sage did to her? How do we know he really fixed her and didn't make her worse somehow?"

When he realized his jaw was hanging open and the seconds were rapidly ticking by, he shook his head and tried not to stammer. "What!? What!? Where did this come from all of a sudden? Katara!"

"Hey!" Zuko shouted. "This is for Azula's own good as well as everyone else's. You can't deny that you've been attacked by monsters out of nowhere multiple times. She could be in danger."

"Oh please, this has nothing to do with her safety and everything to do with..."

"Enough!" Zuko swiped his hand in front of face, sending flames into the air. "Very well, if you haven't seen her then you're dismissed."

"I think I'll hang around, actually. Based on what I saw last night you could use my planning skills," Sokka said, squaring his stance.

"Go back to your quarters, Sokka. I'll have the guards stand down so if Azula tries to contact you, she'll be able to," said Zuko, sinking back into his seat and breathing rhythmically in an effort to control his rage.

"Yeah, no problem," said Sokka, seeing no point in more yelling. "I can find my own way back, Aang."

He was off the gangplank when he heard heavy footsteps running up behind him. He turned and felt Suki crash into him, crushing him in a powerful hug. "You jerk," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "Walking out like that..."

"I'm sorry," he said, returning her embrace. "I've been worried sick about you for so long I didn't know what to do or say. I thought you hated me."

She still looked at him as though he was sick, a reaction he was getting tired of. "I don't hate you, Sokka, I just think you've lost your mind. Azula, really?"

"It's a long, long story."

"Katara told me the truth about the south pole. I don't understand it still, but Sokka you should have told us."

"I know that," he snarled, wishing she would disappear, that he would not have to speak to her now, not when he was like this.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm sure you had your reasons, I don't blame you. Listen, I'm sorry about everything from before, I know we were apart a lot and maybe I assumed some things I shouldn't have, but Azula? Sokka, it's like you picked the worst person you could find."

He clenched his fingers, resting his wrists on her shoulders so he would not clutch at her armor. The smell of her hair, her skin, her war paint, it made him dizzy and he turned his head to the side to breathe through his mouth.

"I didn't pick her," he said. "It just happened."

"Sokka..."

"Don't, please," he said, backing away. "Just...not now, please. We've got so much stuff going on right now, it's too much."

"That's just it, Sokka, what's going on is bigger than anything we've had to deal with before. We can still lose, and if we do..."

She was coming towards him and he thought his body would rip itself to pieces, caught between the urge to go to her and the need to flee. Images flashed before his eyes. Suki's face when she came to rescue him and Toph on the airship during the war's last battle. Azula's face shining in the darkness of the caverns beneath the south pole. Suki at the top of the stairs, shimmering in his fire wine haze. Azula's amber eyes flashing.

He ran down the gangplank, praying to whatever spirits would listen for Suki's words to not reach his ears, and to be forgotten if they did.

"Sokka, come back!"

While she wore her Kyoshi armor, she was in no shape to run and he outdistanced her, hearing her feet stop falling while his own kept on. Alone on the ship, he stopped and leaned over the gunwale lest a guard see him crying. A few slaps to the face and wipes of the eyes and he felt numb, like he could go back to his quarters and replace the pain he felt with anger and resentment. Zuko was a fool, his friends and sister were traitors, and how dare Suki act like that after all she had put him through before? He punched a wall as he headed into the ship and the pain made him feel better.

In the darkness he did not see the figure step out of an alcove behind him. He barely felt the blow to the back of his head and did not feel hitting the floor at all.

-888-

When he regained consciousness, he felt as though he were being pulled through the air. He cried out in panic but found his hands and feet were free and his body was not being molested by sharp hooks or claws. The hard cloth of Appa's saddle was under him and his head throbbed. "Azula," he said, seeing her sitting on Appa's neck holding his reins while they flew low over the water out to sea.

"Good, you're up. Make sure our supplies are secure. I had to take off rather quickly," she said after glancing back at him.

He turned and saw packs and bedrolls in the rear of the saddle. Sticking out of one like a thorn was a steel boomerang of Fire Nation make that he grabbed and tested the weight of. It was heavier and blunter than his trusty, lost, whale bone boomerang, but it would crack a skull just as easily.

His grip on the weapon tight, he crept slowly across Appa's saddle as the bison gently rose further skyward. Azula was oblivious to his approach when his hand fell on the saddle's pommel and he climbed over it, putting him within arms length of her. The boomerang slid into his belt and he settled in behind her, taking her by the hips and pulling her close so he could nuzzle her neck.

"I forgive you," she said.

"You forgive me?"

She took a deep breath, which made him uneasy until she let out without creating any fire. "One of those so-called healers at the asylum tried to tell me I was a sociopath. Someone who didn't have any real feelings. He said it was why I cruel and didn't understand how other people felt."

Her voice was matter-of-fact, clear and crisp in the night air and free of any self-pity. "After a few sessions with him, I deduced enough about his life that with a few choice words I was able to reduce him to tears and send him running from the room. Bin was the only one who would see me after that, but the point is I understand other people's emotions just fine, for the most part. It's perfectly normal that you'd have some left-over feelings for your old girlfriend, and I'm willing to overlook your moment of weakness."

Rubbing the back of his head, his brain was arrested, unable to move in any direction. "Azula..."

She had turned her head to fix him with one blazing amber eye. "I was jealous, alright? Can't a girl fly into a jealous rage now and again?"

Another one of his father's off-hand comments floated up from the darkness between his ears. -Pick your battles carefully, Sokka.- Whether he had been referring to women or combat Sokka could not recall, but it seemed like good advice for both.

"Okay, fair enough," he said. "Where are we going?"

"The Northern Air Temple," she said, her tone signaling they had moved on. "Zuko can't function properly with me around, and I don't trust that eyebrow-less bungler and his wheeled son to tackle a shoggoth, so we may as well be the ones to secure those crystals."

Sokka chose to ignore the "wheeled son" comment, and squeezed her. "That's a pretty good plan, actually," he said, and waited for her to finish.

Azula sighed and leaned her head back against him. "I'm thinking about hanging onto them until Zuko agrees to a few of my terms."

He was unable to suppress a groan, and so she tilted her head forward and jabbed him with an elbow. "But, since you'll whine about it, I suppose we'll just turn them over. He and the others will have no choice but to trust me, then."

She did not sound hopeful, and neither was he. Sokka was tempted to suggest she go with her original plan, but kept still and held her, letting her warmth spread through his wind-chilled arms. The water passed below them as a dark sheen while the sky, with its long, translucent clouds, slowly turned over their heads as if on dial.

"Aang's not going to like Appa being taken like this. He had a bad experience with that once."

"Appa will vouch for me," Azula said, patting the bison's furry head. "He's come to see my cause is just."

"Does he now? I think he'll just take any excuse to fly, he's been cooped up on a ship so long."

Sokka adjusted his legs and let the scent of Azula's hair and skin fill his mouth and nose, driving out thoughts of the chaos behind him and what lie ahead as they flew into the north.

-888-

Azula had packed well given the short amount of time she had to do it in. There was plenty of food, water, camping supplies, and best of all, warm clothing which they were bundled in by the time they reached the cold regions surrounding the Northern Air Temple. The sky had cleared as they approached it in the late afternoon. Sokka wanted to halt somewhere and come at the temple in the morning, but Azula kept Appa flying, saying the temple's interior would be dark at any time of day.

He convinced her to land Appa halfway down the temple stairs where the Air Nomads had long ago built a patio presumably for people who wanted to rest or who simply wished to look out over the plains from a lower elevation. A hardy tree grew there, and Appa was content to remain, perhaps following some sky bison instinct to stay where his airbender handlers put him.

They carried packs containing ropes and tools. Azula explained they would first deal with the shoggoth, then drag the crystal to the courtyard where one of them would fetch Appa. "I'm sure you'll devise a way to move it if it's too heavy," she said.

"If anyone can, it's me," he said, smiling as they ascended the stone steps.

The courtyard was just as it had been before, but now Sokka keenly felt the creeping dread that infested the place. Every dark corner seemed to move and threaten to gibber and so he drew his new boomerang, more to calm himself than anything for he knew it would have little effect on the amorphous body of a shoggoth.

There were no markings on the light dusting of snow that covered the beige stones, nothing to say men with no necks and bulging eyes too far apart had been there. Nor was there any sign of the shoggoth that had chased them off the last time they had walked over the stones.

"This is strange," said Azula. "It feels like there's nothing here."

"I really wish that was true," he said as she led him into the temple and ignited her hand, covering them in blue light.

"It still feels empty," she said. "I felt it's presence here before, but now there's nothing."

"You could sense it before?"

She clucked her tongue at him. "I didn't realize it at the time, otherwise I would have said something. I think the one in my mind was interfering somehow. I'm sensitive to them, remember. It's how they lured us to them at the south pole, remember?"

He did, but thought the empty silence should have been enough to make her skin crawl all the same. "Maybe this one doesn't want company and is just being quiet," he said.

They went past the room they had used for a camp and found it empty. Sokka was sniffing at the air like a dog, almost eager to confirm the shoggoth was still here. If it was, then the odds of the crystal still being there were good.

Azula was making no attempt to be sneaky and went forward with her flames burning bright. The temple's rooms and halls were confusing to follow, but in Air Nomad fashion they all flowed into each other and in the same direction. Soon they were in the room the Mechanist had been using to study the crystal.

It was gone.

"Shoulda seen that coming," said Sokka, throwing his hands up.

"Quit complaining. We did see this coming. Let's keep looking. At the very least we'll know this place was a waste of time," said Azula.

Sokka shrieked when the shadowy corner behind him moved. Azula's flames billowed, revealing a friendly, tired old face.

"Zan?" Sokka asked, backing away.

Zan bowed. "It's good to see you again," he said, his voice hoarse.

"What's your game, old man? Where are the green crystals that were here?"

Sokka wanted to know, too, and crossed his arms, mindful of the fact that this man was able to send people to far off places with his violin.

"My game, young lady, is I'm doing more for this world than it's done for me. The crystal you seek is still here, just follow me."

He hobbled through the dark halls ahead of Azula's firelight to where the air became cool and sour. "Uh, Zan," Sokka said. "Gas leaks aside, there might be a shoggoth running around here."

"I took care of it," said Zan, his voice rasping. "At a great cost to myself, I might add."

"Cost? Does it hurt you to use your powers?"

"My powers?" the man said with a raspy laugh. "My powers he says. Yes, I suppose you could say that for brevity's sake. I'm about to do you a great favor, so please no more questions just yet."

Azula's flames flickered from her annoyance and the blue light cast everything in an eerie hue, all except the black violin Zan had slung across his back that bounced gently against his red tunic.

"Douse your fire, girl," said Zan.

The smell of gas became strong and Sokka worried about becoming light-headed as they passed through a hole in the wall, using their hands to find their way. The gas smell was soon gone, giving way to the reek of stale water and stone, but a dull green light made Azula's flame unnecessary.

"There it is. Someone or something moved it down here," said Zan.

They were in a flooded cavern with a low ceiling. The far end was the large crystal, the source of the pale, green light. They were standing in cold, ankle deep water. Sokka nudged the crystal with his foot, confirming that it weighed several hundred pounds.

"Looks like we'll have to get some help," said Sokka. "Toph or Aang can have this thing topside in a few minutes."

"Unless you brought those people with you, that's not an option," said Zan.

"What are you babbling about now?" Azula asked, her rudeness making Sokka wince.

"Your enemies are far better coordinated than you might think, young lady," said the old man, his voice becoming more hoarse with each word until he was whispering. "Star-spawn are moving towards the south pole as we speak, and while the shoggoths that infest the old city will delay them, it is imperative that the machine built by the Old Ones be activated before they arrive."

Sokka held his head, willing his brain to work better. "We can't hold off an army of star-spawn by ourselves..."

Zan was growing frustrated and rubbed his throat. "There's more to the machine than..." he took a breath, gathering his voice as well as his thoughts. "Activate the machine and you will activate some of the cities other defenses, that coupled with the shoggoth infestation should slow the star-spawn and buy your race the time it needs."

"Time? You knew about the machine all along?" asked Azula. "Do you know how much..."

"You sorely test my patience, young lady," said Zan, harshly. "I have learned much since we last met, at great risk to myself. If you'd rather take it from here, then I shall be on my way."

"Zan, please," said Sokka, giving Azula a warning glance. "Ignore her. We appreciate any help you can give us."

"I'm afraid all I can do is send you and the crystal to the Old One's city at the south pole. I can tell your friends where you've gone so they can send the necessary reinforcements, but I will be very weak by the end of this."

Sokka put his hand on Azula's shoulder to keep her from talking while he thought. He felt the pieces turning, snapping together, and he did not like the shape he was seeing. "This is a one-way trip, isn't it?" he asked.

"If you brought more supplies I can send them after you, but yes, I'm afraid so."

"How are we supposed to operate some slug monster machine that we've never seen before?" Azula asked.

Zan's teeth flashed in the green gloom. "The Old Ones, for all their knowledge, are a practical race. Where I'm about to send you, there should be a spot for you to put the crystal, and near that a lever. Simply pull it and the machine will activate and run on its own." He held up a finger before Azula could speak. "Shutting it down is a more complex matter. The star-spawn can do it, but it will take them some time if their way into the city proper is barred, and the shoggoths rise to meet them. Remember, those old horrors are slaves to none but their own mindless hunger now."

"But the shoggoth that was here..." Azula said, her anger making her slosh in the shallow water.

"I don't know where it came from," said Zan. "Do you want to stand here until the stars are right hearing explanations or would you like to accomplish the goal you've strived so long for?"

Sokka shook Azula's shoulder. Suddenly he was cold, and not just from his feet being wet. He looked to Azula for an opinion, but could see a stillness had come over her as well. "Looks like we don't have many options," he said.

"No, it looks like we don't," she said, crossing her arms.

Sokka let out a deep breath and studied Zan's bearded, lined face. His eyes were black pools, like the space between stars in the night sky.

"Okay, Mr. Zan, do your thing. And thanks."

"Don't thank me yet, boy," he said, putting his violin beneath his chin and tuning it. "I told you, the longer a distance the more harrowing the trip? I wish you well. Guard your minds as best you can."

He began to play the same tune he had before when he returned them to Appa's saddle, only it quickly became more rapid and complex. Deeper somehow, more nuanced. As before, color left the world and shapes began to shimmer.

They were hurtling through a black, airless void. Sokka had taken a deep breath before the music began to play, as had Azula, who floated next to him. Looking in the direction he thought was up, he saw nothing but blackness, but on looking down the air left him in a soundless scream.

Just as the body stops feeling pain when an injury is too massive, so does the mind cease to process what the senses report when what is being observed is so repulsive that to perceive it would cause the mind to fall into madness. This survival mechanism is imperfect, however, and later, if Sokka survived long enough to lay beneath the stars and gaze up, he would do well not look too long, for there in the space between those bright, distant lights would be the barest hint of the face he gazed upon while traveling through the void between the great spheres of creation.

When their eyes opened and they could once again breathe, they were atop a massive dome set inside an even larger cavern. The cold air shocked their starved lungs. Above them was a circle of light from a hole or crack in the cavern's ceiling. In the center of the dome, in the brightest spot, was a raised dais made from black, square stones wholly unlike the gritty white rock beneath their feet. The green crystal shimmered into view before them and promptly began to slide downward, picking up speed with the slope of the dome.

Sokka got in its way and his wet, leather boots gave him the needed traction against the dome's fine, gritty shell. He dared not try to get leverage, however, fearing he would slip. Azula had gone to the opposite end, holding on to the crystal's glassy surface as best she could.

"That was close," Sokka said. "I don't think he knew exactly where he was sending us."

"I don't see our supplies," Azula said, looking pale and shaken. "And it's freezing in here. This must be the south pole at least."

"Yeah, which means we'll have company soon. Maybe we can get this done before the blobs notice we're here."

She nodded rapidly, moving next to him to help push the crystal towards the dais. They would figure out what to do with it when they got it there, but in the meantime there was little else to consider. That soon ended when the sound of a thousand mindless, jabbering mouths filled the enormous cavern.

It came from all around them, and grew louder. Both he and Azula had the pressing, clear sense the lower part of the dome was flooded in a sea of living tissue that had been roused to angry wakefulness.

"He's killed us," Azula said, seeing something Sokka could not. "That horrible old man, he sent us here to die!"

"Azula, focus! Help me!" Sokka shouted as she left him to push the crystal and began throwing massive bursts of flame into the darkness below, darkness that was swirling and rising like water. He turned his attention from his labor long enough to see she was right to panic. More shoggoths than he thought possible were boiling up towards them, creeping slowly and inevitably despite the freezing air. Azula's massive fire clouds were causing them to retract like a slug from a ring of salt, but the heated stone left in the flame's wake made the shoggoths move faster.

"Stop that and help me push this thing!" he shouted, his voice rising in pitch.

"Hang on, keep it straight," she said, shoving him aside and pressing her lower back against the end of the crystal. She sent thin, powerful bursts of flame from her arms that forced her backward and into the crystal. It took a moment for it to start, but soon she and the green crystal were rocketing up the dome like a sled in reverse.

Sokka struggled to keep it aimed at the dais and was worried either it or the crystal would break when they collided, but he saw no other choice than to let the crash happen. Azula cried out in pain when crystal met stone and her fire abruptly stopped.

She had injured her back and was rolling around the dais with her face pinched and her teeth set. Sokka saw the circle of white stone around them was eroding; the shoggoths were coming closer, their forms blended into one mass, one single mindless purpose, to absorb, consume, and destroy. The song of a thousand stolen voices all talked at once in a rhythm that bore through the sides of his skull and turned his brain to liquid.

Azula was screaming, but not from the pain in her back. She was begging them, it, to leave her alone, to get out of her mind, but the shoggoth that had been there before had left something of itself behind, something not even the Nyarlathotep could remove. There was an imprint there, a silhouette, a blank space in the shape of a shoggoth that lie dead and dormant but could be called to by the others, by The One.

He knew all of this just as he knew he had ten toes. His brain was swimming in the psychic miasma of the shoggoth hive-mind, and dense as he was to their individual frequencies there was no escaping them now.

She was still screaming. He could hear it, her voice, saying one thing over and over again.

His name. Sokka.

The steel boomerang served as a poor, but ultimately effective lever in raising the heavy crystal onto the edge of the stumpy dais. Once it was there, Sokka used every ounce of his strength to slide it the rest of the way. There was a hollow in the center of the dais that loosely accepted the crystal, and once it was upright he fumbled around the edge for a lever.

Sokka had been thinking about a long handle, like the kind found in many airships and other Fire Nation machinery, but what he grabbed instead was more of a wheel, something a tentacle might find easy to slip around and turn. It moved under his human wrist with only a bit of difficulty, and the crystal began to lower into the dais, vanishing out of sight completely.

The shoggoth, singular, was closing in. The cold was not slowing it down any longer, but it took its time all the same. Food was scarce down here under the ice, and it would savor their living terror as long as it could before it devoured them. After that it would have to be content with endlessly replaying their stolen memories of the event, along with the others it had consumed.

He jumped from the dais and cradled Azula in his arms as the dome and cavern began to vibrate. The shoggoth's black, sludge body quivered, but did not stop its advance. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I think this is it," he said, wishing for nothing more now than a moment's reprieve from the oppressive air around him that permeated his senses.

Wincing, she sat up and pressed her face into him. "Sokka," she said into his ear. "Do you love me?"

He would not look at the advancing black morass, only her face. "I love you, Azula. You're crazy in all the wrong ways, but I love you."

"And you're a filthy snow peasant, but I think I love you, too," she said, looking at him with hard, amber eyes.

He kissed her, she kissed him. Would his spirit escape the shoggoth, or would it eat that, too? "I don't want to die like this," he said.

"Neither do I," she said, grabbing him and getting to her feet. She held him tight as she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, preparing to produce a tremendous amount of blue flames.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"A little."

He felt the heat between them rising, could feel her breathing and knew the exact moment her fire would burst forth and consume them both. "I always had a weird feeling fire would do me in. Is it weird that I'm kinda glad it's yours?"

"What are you babbling about? Hold on to me and pray."

Hot, blue fire burned under them and he gripped her tight as she rose upward, slowly at first then faster as she took in another breath and let it out. It hurt more than a little around his legs, and he screamed, mostly in terror, as they shot to the top of the cavern where he the hole in the ceiling was some kind of tear, wide in the middle and pinched on either end.

The hole was not exactly over the dais, and Sokka was convinced they would collide with the ceiling if they did not catch fire first, but when they shot out of the dome and into the bitter cold sky his scream became a shout of joy. It became terrified again as they fell back down, but their arc put them away from the gap and into deep snow that they both wished was a little deeper.

Sokka was the first on his feet. His boots, pants, and the bottom of his winter tunic were singed black. They were only there to begin with because they had been soaked before. He found Azula lying nearby and checked to see if she had broken her legs. Both were whole, but she cried out when she tried to move and held her lower back.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

"Feels like my back is broken," she said.

He pulled up her tunic and saw a dark, red mark to the left of her spine, above her hip. He felt for her lower vertebrae. "Looks like just a nasty bruise," he said, feeling the deep chill in the air beneath his clothes.

"Well, looks like we've got plenty of ice to put on it," Azula said. "I'm guessing that old fool never sent us our supplies, or he sent them somewhere down there."

"Guess again," Sokka said, spying something dark against the white snow. He moved quickly, across what seemed to be a ridge on the southern-most part of the world. The sky was as he remembered it from three years before, cloudy overhead and yellow in the distance, but he cared nothing for the scenery now as he came to the packs of supplies they had left on Appa, hundreds and hundreds of miles to the north. He carried everything back to Azula who had landed near a large snow drift. A fitting spot for a temporary shelter, at least until they could get their bearings.

He covered her in spare blankets and set to digging a hollow in the snow. He trusted Azula to keep an eye on the gap in the dome, fearing the shoggoth would somehow climb out or the humming machine would cause the dome to collapse. He wondered what had broken the outer dome open to begin with, but recalled it had been there for longer than man had walked the earth. Everything fell apart eventually, he supposed.

When the snow cave was dug, he helped Azula inside and they drank from one of the water skins. "Your back still hurt?" he asked.

"You saw it, what do you think?"

"I think the south pole hates you," he said.

She flicked his ear, the one he had nearly lost. "You're the one who's been getting the worst of it on this little journey of ours, I suppose it was coming around to be my turn again."

"It could be a lot worse," he said. "I thought we were goners. I thought..."

"That I was going to burn us up," she said, clasping his hand. "I was at first, but then I thought of a better idea. Still, pretty romantic don't you think?"

He laughed too hard and covered his mouth. She was laughing too, despite the pain it caused her.

"This is so crazy," he said. "Three years ago when the airship crashed and I found you in the snow, I had my boomerang ready to...and just now, I said I love you. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up, you know?"

"I don't want to wake up," she said. "You've seen who I am and you don't hate me like all the others do. I suppose I have these monsters to thank for forcing us together."

"To Cthulhu," he said, raising the water skin and taking a drink before passing it to her.

"To Cthulhu. Speaking of him, do you think the machine worked?"

Sokka took a moment to listen. He thought he could hear a distant thrum in the cold air but perhaps it was the blood pounding in his ears.

"You know, let's just say it did. I can't take any more of this gloom and doom stuff," he said, leaning back into a thick blanket that comprised the floor and partial wall of their shelter. Azula leaned against him and he basked in the heat she radiated.

"Very well," she said. "I suppose now we wait for the Avatar to come with Appa, or a flock of star-spawn come to destroy the machine?"

"They'll get a fight if they show up," said Sokka. "I'm hoping nothing we just did will put Mai and Ty Lee in danger."

"I suppose I hope so, too, only so I can see the look on Ty Lee's face when she sees me with you. She thought you were cute, you know."

"Well, she's not wrong," said Sokka, getting a nudge. "How much food did you pack?"

"A few days worth."

He resisted letting out a groan. "How far do you think we can we stretch it?"

"Two weeks. I do hope you ate well under Zuzu's hospitality."

"Two weeks," he said, not wanting to think about it. "We've got shelter, we've got water...it's going to be a long wait if Zan doesn't come through with the rest of his promises."

"Best keep quiet about it, then," she said. "Worst case scenario I can cook and eat part of you."

"I get to pick the part," he said, kissing her forehead.

Their snow cave was warm, but growing damp. He would have plenty of time to make it comfortable, but for now he enjoyed the respite it offered.

"Try to get some sleep. I'll keep watch and we'll trade off just in case we get company. We're going to want to conserve our energy," he said.

"My back is too sore to do anything else," she said. "Which is a shame."

"We'll make up for it later."

"The asylum doesn't allow conjugal visits."

"You're not going back there," he said, brushing black strands from her forehead and kissing it.

"Promise?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I promise," he said, kissing her between the eyes. "Now sleep."


	26. At the Bottom of the World

Night never truly took hold this far south during the late summer, but Sokka noted the earth's rotations by watching the periods of dimness and yellowing skies as they passed in front of the circle of light at the end of the snow cave. Food, drink, and bodily functions were the only reasons to brave the punishing cold by leaving the small core of heat beneath the blankets they had packed, and it was done as infrequently as possible.

"I don't remember this place being so awful," Azula exclaimed as she shivered against Sokka's body on their third day in the cave.

"Higher elevation, maybe," he replied, not entirely sure what the reason was for their heightened discomfort compared to their last stranding at the south pole. Their food stores were greater in both quality and quantity, neither was severely injured, and both wore proper clothing. Sokka even thought the snow cave to be warmer than the steel, heat-sucking hull of the crashed airship they had sheltered in years before.

By the fourth day Sokka had pinpointed the problem.

"We're uncomfortable because we're not dying," he said, abruptly after what felt like days of silence.

"What are you talking about?"

He hugged her close, feeling her warm skin against his fingers. She nuzzled his shoulder, barely hearing what he was saying.

"It's like our bodies had more important things to worry about than how comfortable we were last time, after we crashed. I don't know, it's a dumb idea, but there's not much else to do but think about it."

She grumbled some response. The disturbing bruise on her back had faded, and she was now able to rise and travel short distances without his help, whereas before she needed aid in standing and sitting back down. Azula had assured him that if enemies appeared she would be fine in battle, even if she would regret it later. He had thanked the universe many times for her injury not being too debilitating.

They passed the time by sleeping and daydreaming; they also talked. Only rarely did their words stray to the immediate future, about what would happen after they were found or if they were not. Neither had much to say about the latter.

He thought about telling her that he loved her again, but the word would not form between his lips and tongue. As he held her, he felt something simmering between her shoulders, like she was holding something painful between them and afraid to shrug it off.

Sokka's other thoughts were on food and how much he would eat when he got back to the Fire Nation. He kept these thoughts to himself, not wanting to torment her. She did not have the same consideration for him, however, and delighted in painting vivid word-pictures for him of what they could do if her back did not hurt and their need to conserve energy not so great. He listened and did not mind.

On the tenth day, his nerves frayed, she suggested a private activity he had only heard about, and finally he broke.

"We'll go on a world cuisine tour," he said, sliding his hand across the yellow light at the end of the cave. "Every major country, plus all the Earth Kingdom city states, feasts that go on for days..."

"Go to sleep," she grumbled, having run out of lewd things to ponder aloud.

"By the end we'll be fatter than lion hippos. Sounds awesome, right?"

"Whatever you say," she said. "My back hurts. I blame you."

"I'll gladly accept the blame if you promise not to hold it against me," he said.

"That's the point of blaming you, dummy," she said. "You can't escape me."

"Mercy, please."

"Perhaps, if you get me some food."

It was time for their daily, meager meal. Sokka left the warmth of the blanket and crawled to the dwindling sack to retrieve some hard biscuits and dried fruit to be washed down with snow melted in a water skin.

They ate slowly, using the intake of food to break up the monotony of existence. The fear of the shoggoth boiling up from the fissure had long since passed, and Sokka was beginning to wonder just where the star-spawn were. Had Zan been wrong about their impending arrival here, or did it simply take longer to reach the old city than he had thought?

Knowing there was little to do but wait in any case, Sokka chose not to worry much about it. In the back of his mind was a rough plan for finding the crashed airship and using it to build a balloon so they could escape the pole the same way they had years before, but these thoughts were only to stave off boredom. They would never leave this place if someone, or something, did not come.

The day before they were scheduled to run out of food Sokka was nudged awake by Azula, who covered his mouth. All of his senses came alive at once and told him something was outside the snow cave, something large. He could hear the unmistakable sound of a massive, mammalian nose rapidly pulling in smells for its brain to sort and analyze.

"Appa," he said through Azula's hand, pulling away from her grip.

He ran to the end of the cave and nearly injured himself while twisting around in an effort to correct his mistake. It was not Appa outside the cave, sniffing.

Sokka had doomed them both, he knew, but he still stepped lightly back to Azula who had risen in a grimace of pain. He found the metal boomerang he had clung to tightly on their ride up from the machine's dome, and turned to face the thing that would soon be collapsing their snowy cave.

He had only seen a piece of it, enough to know it was not the beloved sky bison or a hungry polar bear dog. He would have preferred a pack of polar bear dogs to this.

"What is it?" Azula whispered.

"I don't know. Something big and hairy. Not Appa, not something natural."

"I saw it fly in," said Azula.

"It can fly?"

"No. It was dropped by those other flying monsters. It looked like a fur ball or something."

Puzzled, Sokka wondered why the star-spawn had come this way. Surely they knew of better, more secret entrances to the city?

-Or maybe they don't know anything about it,- he thought, wondering if that meant they also did not know how to turn it off or sabotage it. -That would explain why they wanted the Necronomicon. It wasn't just to keep it away from us after all.-

"They're here for the machine," he whispered. "We have to stop them somehow."

He readied himself to restrain her, but she made no move to get past him. "Let's wait and see how this plays out," she said. "We're not in a position to attack anything head-on."

His thoughts exactly, so he remained still as could be while the thing outside their shelter sniffed around. It had to know where they were, but Sokka wondered if it was even looking for them. Perhaps it was smelling for something else. Shoggoths maybe, or the crystals that powered the machine?

Sokka stared in amazement and terror as the thing shuffled through the snow away from their shelter. It truly did look like a giant ball of fur, but the coarse black hairs looked better suited to a wooly caterpillar rather than a goat yak or something he might expect to see in this land of snow and ice.

Whatever it used to move was hidden beneath its hair, and the path it left through the snow offered no clues about its features that could be seen from the snow cave. It was still sniffing, like a hound on a scent, towards the giant rupture in the dome.

"Looks like it didn't come for us," said Sokka.

"Let's keep an eye on it. Follow me."

Despite her natural agility, she was no child of ice and snow, and so she trudged painfully after Sokka who moved over the white blanket like a hare by comparison. While loathe to do it, they walked in the tread of the furry horror to make their going both easier, and harder to detect should something with too many eyes fly over, looking for human footprints

In the path before them were two lines of parallel holes as though a row of pegs had been used to put indentations in the snow. Sokka's original image of a wooly caterpillar was solidified, for he now imagined two rows of a dozen or so stubby nubs that must serve for the creature's feet. He had never heard a caterpillar scent out anything like a polar bear dog, however, and so the beast's true nature eluded him, even as he saw it reach the edge of the crack and go over, out of sight.

"It's like a bug or something," Sokka said. "It's probably crawling on the roof of the cavern."

"Maybe not," said Azula, a wince in her voice. "It was dropped from high up and landed as though it felt nothing. It might have fallen onto the machine."

They kept going, stopping at the edge of the hole. They could see the white dome far below but not the fur-thing.

"Looks like the shoggoth backed off," Sokka said. "No sign of fuzzball."

"If it rolled into the shoggoth, it's likely dead," she whispered as the wind whipped their clothes and hair. If the shoggoth had called to her since their escape, she had made no sign of it.

Sokka stepped away from the edge and looked up at the sky. It had cleared, but remained a greyish yellow color. "You said the flying star-spawn flew that thing over and dropped it. Did you see which way they headed after that?"

"They kept going that way," she said, pointing south. "There were two of them, and they had it in some kind of rope or net. Care to know what I think, Mr. Strategist? That fuzzball was nothing more than a scout. I doubt it was the only one that was dropped."

Sokka stood still in the snow, feeling the aggressive cold leech out the heat he had built up under his clothes. His toes ached in his boots. "Do you think we have enough blankets to cover part of this hole?" he asked.

She did not answer immediately and made a show of thinking about the question despite knowing the answer was "yes," and that it meant giving up their blankets. "Most of it, maybe," she said, sourly. "We'll have to use ropes to support them over the widest part, assuming we're going to put a layer of snow over it."

"Let's get it done quick. Then we'll have to sweep away this track," he said, making his way back to the snow cave.

"If it doesn't work, we'll be dead sooner for nothing," she said, hobbling after him.

"We just need to stall them until our friends get here. They'll come."

"Just like last time, right?"

He decided not to respond, knowing petulance when he heard it. That she was following him and helping him tear apart their camp was all the proof he needed that he was right

Their work went remarkably well and was nearly free of the hundred small engineering problems supposedly simple jobs typically presented. They had rope and stakes which let them put their blankets over the widest part of the hole, and they were able to cover it with enough snow to mask it all completely.

One blanket was kept for themselves, which they used to sweep away the tracks the fuzzball had made as best they could. From a low altitude their ruse would be spotted easily, but Sokka was hoping the only reason the flying monsters had dropped the crawling one was because the crack in the great cavern left a noticeably dark slit against the white terrain. As long as the cutting wind spread the snow and did not uproot the cover, he felt good about the gap remaining concealed.

Inside the cave they shivered violently against each other beneath the snowy blanket.

"Keep an eye on the sky," Sokka said. "We'll need to signal our friends if they come here."

"H-how will they know where to l-look," she said, her teeth chattering. "Don't say that old man is going to point the way."

"I'm hoping the Old Guy will have a better idea of where the city is than...the other old guy...will. I'm really cold."

"Swear to me that once we get out of this we'll never set foot over snow again," she said.

"You don't want to meet my Gran Gran? Ah, maybe that's for the best. Oh, man, Gran Gran is gonna flip when she hears about you."

He said it with as much humor as he could muster, for he now had a familiar, unwelcome feeling in his chest. It had been there after the airship crashed and had clung to him until the moment he flew into the air on Appa's back weeks later. The cold was part of his body now, an ever-present thing pacing in the dark around his hot, dwindling core.

He was dying again.

-888-

His face was being slapped, but his cheek was too numb to feel it. "Wake up, dummy! We've got company."

Sokka had fallen asleep on his back with Azula on top of him. Frost had stuck their tunics together, and she peeled herself off him when she sat up. It had been her turn to remain awake while watching the sky through the snow cave's opening. Sokka had reasoned anyone searching for them would eventually pass into view of that narrow circle of sky, and he or Azula would have to be ready to signal them.

Their food had run out two days ago despite their efforts to stretch it, but it was not helping them inside a bag and so it had been eaten until gone. Their stomachs had complained for a day and a half before giving up, and they had taken to laying still, drinking water, and not moving while taking turns sleeping and watching.

Azula had kept them warm, but like a coal with no wood laid atop it she had begun to darken and cool.

Sokka got to his feet to follow her out the cave door, his legs stiff and his fingers red and unbending. He could understand her desire to trigger a final battle with a swath of monsters, but wanted to stop her, to let the creatures pass them by and miss seeing the cracked dome.

Outside in the killing cold he stood with her and looked to the horizon. He could see dark shapes in the yellow murk coming nearer. "Monsters?" he asked through chapped, blooding lips, hoping her amber eyes beneath their blue-lined lids could see farther than his own.

She said nothing as the shapes came closer, and their bodies slowly lost their life energy. "Come on, let's go back and wait to see if they're friends or not."

Azula resisted his gentle tug like a snow drift against a breeze. She had seen something he had not, and he trusted her as they both sank to their knees. He put a stiff arm over her shoulder to offer whatever feeble energy he could as they waited and froze.

-They're monsters. We're doomed. They're mirages. We're still doomed,- he thought, going over all the things he could have done differently in the past three years to have avoided this.

"Everything has to come from somewhere, what's so crazy about that?" he blurted in the voice of a drunkard, the wind carrying his words over the empty waste.

"Keep it together," Azula said softly and evenly, too cold to shiver. "See, I was right."

He blinked rapidly to clear the ice from his eyelids and saw the dark shapes coming closer were airships, perhaps half a dozen Ember Class carriers. Not a scouting or search group; they had come loaded for war.

Sokka had the mad thought that Cthulhu had somehow taken over once more, and those ships had come to destroy the Old One's machine, but as they drew nearer he could see a small, more agile shape cruising between them. Appa.

The cold had seeped into him so completely that he felt like its source rather than its victim. He was barely aware that Azula was sending up streaks of bright blue fire, likely representing the last of her life's heat. When she stopped, she sank to her knees and leaned into him, her warmth all but gone.

He could move his pinky finger. It touched her limp hand and he had to look to see her fumbling to take hold of him. His digits had turned a dull purple while hers were a lovely shade of blue.

-888-

He was being cooked.

"Relax, you're safe," Katara said. She was behind him, cradling his head between her hands to keep him from sinking below the steaming water.

He was in a tub inside a small, metal room. A firebender healer was at the foot of it, keeping the water hot while another healer entered with a steaming bucket.

"Where am I?" Sokka asked.

"An airship over the south pole. Azula is in the other room getting the same treatment. You were both nearly dead when we found you."

"The machine, it's where we were..."

"We know. Aang and Zuko took everyone down..."

Sokka bolted from under the water but Katara held him still. "We know, Sokka. Those blob-things actually did us a few favors, believe it or not. They blocked the other monsters from getting in through the underground, that's why they were trying to find another way from above."

"What's happened? Were they stopped?"

"We think so," said Katara. "The shoggoths are in control down there, but the Old One says that's not going to be a problem for us. Sokka, he says the machine is working like it's supposed to...you did it. We won."

She kissed him on the forehead and relaxed her hold on him to stroke his brow. He tried to think of something to say, but only closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

After two more loads of water, Katara made sure he remained submerged for another hour before calling for towels. She checked his fingers and toes and found them frostbitten but her healing abilities made sure he would not lose them.

"How is Azula?" he asked, toweling himself dry while her back was turned.

"Better off than you, except for that bruise on her back."

"She got that helping me get the crystal loaded into the machine," Sokka said. "We'd all be pretty screwed without her."

"That's debatable, but we're not going to argue about it right now," she said, turning around as Sokka was now mostly dressed. "Zuko is working on getting a base built here to ward off anymore monsters. He plans to reinforce it with more troops before anything else can happen."

"How many soldiers is he bringing?" Sokka asked.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," Katara said. "I've said way too much as it is."

He felt like he had been slapped and remembered the last time they were all together. "Zuko doesn't want you talking to me because he knows I'll tell Azula what's going on, right? And you're fine with that, I guess."

It was her turn to look indignant. "Sokka, I don't know what you expected. Nobody trusts her, especially the people who know her best. If you want to be with her, fine, I can't stop you, but I don't expect you to keep secrets from her, and there are things we'd all rather she didn't know about."

"She'll want to know how much her help has been appreciated by everyone."

Katara sighed. "Sokka...I don't want to sound ungrateful or take away from what you two did, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, for starters, Aang's not happy about your flying off with Appa without saying a word to him about it. You two caused a lot of chaos disappearing like that."

Sokka raised his hand in protest and was about to say it had been Azula's idea, but held his tongue. "Yeah, alright, we should have left a note, but Zan told you what was up."

"You weren't planning on seeing him when you left," said Katara. "And I don't know much about this Zan guy, but not everyone's convinced he needed to send you to the south pole right away like he did."

Holding his forehead, Sokka tried to think about how nice it was to not be freezing to death. "Where is she, exactly?" he asked.

"Two rooms down the hall," Katara said, folding a towel.

He left and soon stood before two guards, their moods unreadable behind their face masks. One stepped aside and quietly motioned him in. The small room was identical to his own and just as muggy from the steaming bath which Azula was lounging in, keeping it warm with her bending. Her eyes peeled open in annoyance, but then her face lit up like an explosion when she saw it was him.

Stripping off his tunic to keep it dry, he went to receive her wet embrace and kisses. He returned them with interest before kneeling behind her, holding her head against his chest as the ripples in the water faded.

"Looks like we won," he said. "They're building a base here and are going to call for reinforcements to keep it that way."

"Excellent," she said, the word like silk on his ears. "I never doubted our victory for a moment, did you?"

He laughed, feeling every terrible thought that had been leaking poison into his soul suddenly calcify and dry up. Stroking her shoulders, he kissed her on the lips for a long moment rather than call her a liar.

"And what does dear Fire Lord Zuzu have planned for us now, I wonder? I couldn't help but notice the guards at the door."

He let a puff of air vibrate his lips as his finger swirled the water by her shoulder. "Listen, can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"Don't do anything...independent. You helped save the world and that's going to be real hard to overlook, so whatever stupid, annoying thing Zuko does just play along with it for a little while, okay? I'll make sure you're in a good place by the end, but he's kinda stubborn, you know?"

"He's afraid of me," she said. "Can't say I blame him. When you speak to your friends, perhaps a tactful reminder that their relationship with Zuzu was once a bit strained, yet they've since forgiven him completely, might be in order."

He nodded, and kissed her for an answer, deciding now was not the time to bring up how difficult accepting Zuko had been for them.

"Sokka," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I'll promise not to provoke Zuko, but you promise me you won't let me be sent back to that asylum."

"I promise," he said, not sure if it was one he could keep. "Are you done here? I can get you some towels and some clothes."

"I suppose. The water makes my back feel better, and my leg, but I'm pruning and that's unacceptable."

He fetched her towels, leggings, and a red tunic. She let him help her dry off and when they went into the hall the guards were on either side of them. "Orders are she goes to the brig," said one of the guards. "You've got quarters assigned to you that will remain guarded."

"I think I'll go to the brig, too," said Sokka. "Or do I have to do something to earn it?"

The guards looked at each other. "Uh, no, I think you can just ask," said the nearest one, who led them both to another deck where they were placed in a room smaller than the ones they had been in with a bench and single bunk.

"Ah, a prison cell, how I've missed these," Azula said. "I wonder how long Zuko will let me have company?"

"As long as I want him to," said Sokka.

"Bold words, dearest, but he's the Fire Lord and you're back to being a lowly snow peasant. He can have you locked in a cell of your own ,or at the very least banished from the Fire Nation."

"Let me worry about my end of it," he said, sitting next to her on the bunk. "Zuko might not be so crazy when he's got less to worry about."

"Whatever you say, dearest."

"Dearest. I like that better than sweetie. My sister and Aang use that one and it gives me the oogies pretty bad."

"All the others I can think of sounded stupid when I whispered them," she said.

"What were they?"

"Nosy, annoying, dense."

"My best qualities," he said.

They shared a laugh, then a kiss, then each other. When it was over they dressed and waited in silence until they fell asleep in each others' embrace.

-888-

He was allowed to share her cell for the duration of the mission, which lasted about a week before the airship had to head north to resupply from a frigate in the southern sea. Sokka and Azula were transferred to the frigate and put under the watch of a pair of Kyoshi Warriors and two dozen Royal Fire Guards, all a testament to Zuko's fear Azula would, and could, escape. Sokka noted with satisfaction that she was more docile than he had ever seen her, even to the point of being eerily polite with their jailors.

Sokka managed to wheedle out of one of the Kyoshi Warriors the news that Ty Lee and Mai had been rescued without being injured, something he quietly passed along to Azula. The warrior, it seemed, was being kept in the dark, too, for she had not been one of the ones possessed by the star-spawn. She told him about some of the things Zuko had said in public speeches, back when he was acting strange. He had talked about the spirit world in a manner none had ever heard. This preceded the Fire Nation's emblem being altered, but those designs were all being changed back now and the Fire Lord was being oddly quiet about the entire episode.

Hearing this greatly amused Azula. "Poor Zuzu, looks like some egg was left on his face after all. Alas, it's well known that young Fire Lords tend to make public fools of themselves at least once. It's seen as a sign of personal strength, oddly enough."

"Gotta spin it somehow, I guess," said Sokka as they sat in the brig of the frigate on its way to the Fire Nation capital. "I'm not sure how I feel about this Fire Lord stuff anyway. Or chiefs, or earth kings, or whatever. Seems like one guy calling the shots is great if that one guy has his act together, but it's kind of a gamble."

She laughed at this, gently. "In the old days I'm told we had a special pit for people who talked like that too loudly. Don't let my brother hear you."

His bored sigh was all the fight he cared to make over Zuko's behavior, and he noted well her satisfied expression. A dark mood settled over him whenever he thought too long about it, for it always led to Katara and the stranger he had seen in her eyes, one he had helped make.

Time passed and they found themselves in the Fire Nation capital's dungeon on a sunny day in early autumn. Sokka realized he had lost complete track of time since his adventure with Azula began, and was not sure how to feel about the chill in the air. On the one hand he was glad their mission had completed well before the deadline, but on the other, that left months for their victory to be undone by Cthulhu's servants. He wondered if the other Old Ones would change their strange tune towards humanity now that the tide of war had shifted.

The cell he and Azula had been put up in was much nicer than the one she had been given at the asylum. For one, there was a tiny window that let in the sunlight, and there was carpeting on the floor, soft and clean. Some drapery and a plant made the stone walls seem more like a bedroom but for the iron bars. There was a privacy curtain which he and Azula made use of in the evenings so they would pass by quicker.

Sokka learned this set up was temporary until Zuko returned from the south pole. Two days before the Fire Lord was scheduled to arrive, Sokka was told he had a visitor.

His status as a prisoner had been cemented via messenger hawk, Zuko's orders, and so he was led to a conference room that housed a long table being sat upon by Toph.

She hugged him tightly then punched him in the stomach.

"That's all I'm gonna say about it," she said as he tried to pick himself up from the floor. "I figured everyone else has given you a good going over already, right?"

"Yeah..." he rasped, getting to a chair, happy to have gotten off so light. "I'm sorry about everything. I wanted to protect everyone, but I put you all in danger and made you suffer instead. I deserve to be locked up like this."

"No you don't," Toph said. "And I don't believe I'm saying this, but neither does Azula."

"What?" he said, looking to the door where he knew there was a guard.

"I'm not saying I trust her at all, but actions speak louder than words and while everything she says is probably a lie, she's done plenty to earn a second chance."

"What's going on, Toph? Nobody is telling me anything."

Toph crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, her white eyes unmoving as they took in nothing. "Politics, that's what's going on," she said.

"Politics?"

"Yeah, awesome, isn't it? You remember all the fun we had after the tsunami and Aang's kidnapping?"

Snorting, Sokka began to pace, rubbing his stomach quietly. "We had even more fun after Zuko and the rest of you guys vanished. I think I see where this is going."

"Yep. All this stuff about the Great Spirit Cthulhu and Azula's body double, it's put Zuko in a pretty tough spot."

"Let me guess, there's factions plotting coups and he thinks Azula is going to join one of them to overthrow him, am I right?"

Toph held out her palms and smiled wryly. "You called it. The best part is that even if Azula has no interest in being the Fire Lord, just having her around is making these traitors brave. It's not just Zuko saying this, Iroh and Piandao agree."

His fists clenched and he shut his jaw tight. -Don't take it out on Toph,- he thought. -She's the only one you haven't pushed away.-

"What's he thinking about doing with her? Banishing her?"

Toph cleared her throat and stepped away from the wall, leaving the air of sarcastic mirth she wore behind. "In two days there's going to be a hearing in front of Zuko and the Fire Sages. You're going to be there, and so are a bunch of other people. Zuko's going to hear from everyone, then he's going to decide what to do with Azula."

"But he's already decided, hasn't he?" said Sokka, pounding his fist into his palm.

"I can read people pretty good, Sokka," said Toph. "Zuko feels awful about this, he doesn't like it, but he thinks he has to be this way to keep his throne and keep the peace. You know what would happen if he was taken out."

"Yeah, I do."

"Zuko wants me there to keep everyone honest. I'll do what I can for you."

"Thanks, Toph. You're a better friend than I deserve, which is why I'll warn you: I'm not letting Azula get locked up again."

"Then you'd better make a good speech," she said, touching his arm.

He grinned and hugged her before being taken back to the dungeon. When he was led past Azula's cell, he almost shouted and fought, but the outrage soon passed. His new cell was not as ornately kept, but it was clean, and he busied himself thinking of what he would say and how he would spin certain uncomfortable truths.


	27. Strange Eons

Sokka had been left to sit in an antechamber out of earshot from the Fire Lord's throne room. The guards at the door were friendly and he could have anything he asked for, but he was not permitted to leave. Suki had come to him early on and explained the proceedings.

"Zuko is going to question a bunch of people one at a time. They can stay in the room after they're done, but everybody who hasn't been questioned has to stay out, which is why you're here," she said.

"Does everyone else get guards?" he asked.

"Sokka, you chose to be a prisoner." Suki looked as if she had more to say, but only shook her head. "I'll come get you when it's your turn. You'll be free to go after this."

"Yippee," he said, hating to watch her leave, but feeling relieved when she was gone.

He sat for what felt like most of the day, and just as he was about to begin bothering the guards for his own amusement, Suki returned. "It's time, Sokka."

He followed her down the long corridor lit by an abundance of wall sconces. "Hey," he said, touching her sleeve.

"What?"

"I know this is a bad time, but I wanted to say I'm sorry about before."

"Yeah, it is a bad time," she said. "We can talk later."

He had no idea when such a talk would be, or if it would end well, but he could no longer stand the coldness between them. It was not something he had to bear for long, for they were soon in the Fire Lord's chamber.

Zuko sat on a dais surrounded by low-burning flames. The scarred side of his face was black from the shadows, but it was a figure in white that caught Sokka's eye.

Azula was wrapped up in a straight jacket like a spider's lunch; sitting in a wheelchair, her loose hair dangled in front of her face as her head hung from her neck. She had been drugged. Around her were two healers and Healer Bin. Sokka gritted his teeth, but held his temper in check as he looked over the room. It seemed he was the last to speak, for gathered to the sides of the room was Toph, Katara, Aang, Nekka, Suzi, Mai, Ty Lee, Iroh, and Piandao. A number of Fire Sages were also present, their grim faces indiscernible in the flickering orange light.

Katara's eyes were on the floor and none of the others were willing to look directly at him, except Aang. There was no malice or accusation in the avatar's face, only sadness.

Sokka bowed when he reached the red tiles before the Fire Lord's throne where all supplicants were supposed to halt and declare themselves. "Fire Lord Zuko, it is I, Sokka of the Water Tribe, here by your command," he said, reciting the formal address with little emotion.

"You could have been here at my request. You're the one who chose to be a prisoner," said Zuko.

"I'm here either way," said Sokka. "You have some questions for me?"

"Yes, but I want it made clear why we're all here. I've known my sister all my life, and it's no secret our relationship hasn't been the greatest. It's also no secret that about three years ago, in the closing days of the war, Azula began acting strangely."

"You know why..."

"Don't interrupt me," Zuko said flatly. "You'll get to speak, but first I want you to know some of what's been said already. By all accounts, Azula has fought bravely against terrifying enemies to save not only our lives, but the entire world."

"Thank you. So explain to me why she's tied up in that stupid jacket. Oh, and I see she's been drugged, too. That's classy."

"Sokka," Suki whispered. "He's the Fire Lord."

Sokka dipped his head in mild apology. Zuko did not react. -He's the alpha polar dog, like it or not. Be cool,- thought Sokka, almost missing the alien voice in his head.

Zuko beckoned for Bin to step forward.

"Princess Azula, unfortunately, had to be restrained when she learned the nature of this proceeding," said Bin. "We did our best to calm her without resorting to restraints either external or internal, but her violent behavior has led to a number of severe injuries in the past, and this time was no different. I'm afraid she had to be restrained."

-Ah, boomerang, where are you when I need you?- Sokka thought, imaging the satisfying thunk his boomerang would make against the side of Bin's head.

"She's right. To put it bluntly, Sokka, Azula is dangerous. You can't deny this," said Zuko.

"Only because she doesn't want to go back to that asylum. Zuko, you know what that place is like. Ask your uncle!"

"General Iroh suffered no ill treatment while at my facil..."

"Enough!" shouted Zuko, making Bin nearly fall over. "I won't let this become an argument, and no one is going to speak until I tell them to. Sokka, the Old One was here earlier. It explained to us what happened to Azula in the south pole, how the shoggoth dumped itself into her mind, like the Old One itself did with you."

Sokka bit his lip, feeling his nerves begin to dance. The Old One had been in his mind, it knew most, maybe all, of what he knew. What had it told them? By all accounts, Azula should be free. "Right, but it's out now, so..."

"It told us how the shoggoth was removed, and that's where my concerns lie," said Zuko. "Sokka, you haven't been open or honest with us about a lot of things..."

"I'm sorry," he blurted, and it was like a floodgate was opened. "You're right, I should have spilled my guts months, no, years ago, but I didn't. When we left the south pole the first time we both thought it was best nobody knew about what was there. We didn't want Hoplo's expedition to repeat itself, and then as things went on it got harder to tell the truth, and...I really want to say I kept the secrets to protect everyone but, but I can't. I...was afraid everyone would think I was crazy. No, that's not true, either. So much time had gone by, that I thought if I told the truth now you'd all think I wasn't trustworthy. Maybe it was all of those thing, I don't know, but the point is I'm sorry about the secrets. It was my idea to keep them, not Azula's."

A long silence stretched out while the flames behind Zuko crackled. His face seemed to have softened somewhat, but he would not look in Azula's direction, even as she picked her head up and tried to make her eyes focus.

"What was her behavior like when she had the shoggoth inside her?" asked Zuko.

"You wouldn't know anything was wrong until she slept, then she would talk in her sleep and wake up screaming. You know that already," said Sokka.

"I have reports that say she attacked a member of the Foggy Bottom Swamp Tribe," said Zuko.

Katara's head was still bowed and she was playing with her fingers as Aang put his arm over her shoulder. "I didn't see it happen, and neither did Katara," said Sokka. "I know something happened to her in the swamp, before we met the weird guy in the yellow robes, and that made her better for a little while."

"Yes, the Old One told us about the man in yellow, and he's what's disturbing," said Zuko. "We were told that he pulled the monster from Azula's mind and tried to take hers with it, but you stopped him."

"Yeah, then everything went dark and we woke up. She was like her old self after that. Not her old homicidal self, but her less bad...you know what I mean."

"I really want to believe that, Sokka," Zuko said, rising to his feet. Azula picked her head up, and everyone in the room looked between them. "But the Old One said that the possibility of the yellow sage having done something to her can't be ruled out, and given some other things I've heard about her behavior and the fact that we're not out of the woods yet..."

"Zuko, please, you don't have to do this. She's better now. I know she's not very nice and doesn't like being told what to do, but I swear she's not planning anything against you! I can keep an eye on her, she..."

"Just stop," said Zuko, his voice hardening as his amber eyes shined in the firelight. "I've made my decision, and it's for her own good. She's going back to the asylum for a while. She'll have a better cell, but..."

"No!" Azula shrieked, jerking her head up. Her eyes rolled madly in their sockets which were underscored by dark circles. "No, I won't go back! Sokka, don't let them take me! You promised me you wouldn't let him! You promised! You..."

"Guards!" Zuko shouted, making a cutting motion with his arm.

Sokka was a pile of wet sand held together by skin, his brain a gritty lump incapable of deciding who to hit first, so he remained still, watching the guards slip a leather hood over Azula's head to stop her from breathing fire on them. Her screams were muffled, but he could clearly hear the name she was screaming over and over again between curses.

"Zuko," he hissed, suddenly able to move again.

Suki's arm on his shoulder stopped him and spun him around.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go, don't make it worse."

Her voice touched something in him, some memory that made him trust her and do as she said. As he left, he kept his head cocked back at Zuko. The Fire Lord's face was drawn tight, his mouth a narrow line. Gone was the glossiness in his eyes, and Sokka searched his countenance for any sign of pain that might someday let him be forgiven.

-888-

Sokka was a free man and he used that freedom to walk up and down the beach in the rain, letting the heavy drops soak him to the bone in the hopes he would catch a nasty cold, or maybe be flattened by a tsunami like the one that had hit this very spot not so long ago. There was no one out on the sands today. It was not a popular place anymore, even in sunny weather, and it would take many years of sunshine to bleach the memory of that awful day from people's minds.

How many had died here during the tsunami, he wondered? Had that, too, been his fault somehow?

Stepping soggily past the spot where Fuki's Fire Flakes had once stood, he tried to take some joy from the memory of the unbearably hot flakes he had eaten for Suzi's amusement. Whenever he thought about that long walk on the beach, he imagined it had been Azula by his side and not Suzi. It was not so hard to do, given their faces, but the fantasy made him feel dirty for some reason, as if he were looking at lewd wood block prints in the middle of a crowded street.

There was a person walking at the edge of the surf in his direction, her hips swaying in a distinctly feminine manner. His heart fluttered for a moment, but then his eyes saw through the gray wash of rain and he was only puzzled.

"Boomerang Boy," said June when she was close. He stopped and waited for an explanation. June stood beneath a black umbrella and he wondered what could possibly have brought her to him in such weather.

"June," he said. "Look, if Zuko didn't pay you, hang around and I'll..."

"Oh, he paid. He wasn't happy about it, but we came to an arrangement. I own a chateau now."

"That's nice. You earned it."

"I did. Say, I heard they tossed your girlfriend back in the can. That sucks."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Actually, don't, I came out here to kinda not think about that, so if you don't mind..."

She stopped him as he tried to move past her and pulled him closer. "Really, kid? You two spit in the eye of an evil spirit god and some punk Fire Lord is all it takes to keep you apart? I mean, at the end of the day I don't really care, but since I was the one who kinda nudged you two in the right direction, I felt like I should say something."

He snorted water off his upper lip and wondered if she would punch him. "June the match-maker, huh? I'd stick to worrying about myself if I was you."

Her pale, rough fingers clenched around his wet tunic and for a moment he thought his punch was coming, but then she smiled. "Ah, so you are planning something. I can tell. Good. I'd offer to help, but I know you're broke and I only work on credit when the world is at stake, you know? I'll wish you luck for free, though."

"Thanks," he said, returning her smile. "Take care, June."

They parted ways as the rain tapered off and Sokka wheeled his way back to Suzi's house where he doubted his mood would improve.

When he entered, Suzi's mother scowled at him as he dried himself off with a towel after removing his boots. She was gone to some other part of the house by the time he sat at the table after fixing himself a cold dinner.

Suzi moved in like a shadow, her mother's sudden turn in mood likely having alerted her to Sokka's arrival. The hurt she felt at him making his own dinner was barely concealed on her face as she sat down.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep walking in the rain like that," she said.

"Maybe," he muttered. "I'm going to be leaving soon. Probably in a few days."

"I'll be sad to see you go. Mother will, too, eventually."

"Somehow I don't think she's going to forget the danger I put you in anytime soon," he said.

"I'm the one who put me in danger. Blaming yourself for every little thing isn't going to make you feel better or fix anything."

He had heard this speech before and his rebuttal was to shove more food into his mouth.

"Where will you go? The Southern Water Tribe?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sick of the south, actually," he said, wishing he did not sound so mean. "First, I'm going to take Nekka home and apologize to Chief Arnook. I need to thank Dekken, also. If I'm not tossed in a northern jail cell, I'll go find the Mechanist and see if he needs any help. I was thinking about checking out the swamp, but I hear it's crawling with Earth Kingdom troops."

Suzi let him eat, sitting like a portrait unaware and uncaring about how it made its beholder feel. Sokka wanted to believe he was not so low as to resent her for her face.

"I just hope you're not thinking about doing anything dumb," she said.

Sokka knew he was due to hurt someone, and he knew Suzi deserved it the least. He shoved more food into his mouth rather than risk speaking, for her innocence would not save her if he was careless and free with his words.

"I'm all out of dumb ideas," he finally said. "There are more guards in that place now than stones, and I'm not allowed within a mile of it."

"I can try to find out if she's being treated well," Suzi said. "I'm sure the Avatar..."

"Has other things on his mind. We should all have other things on our minds, honestly. The spring equinox is months away still, and we don't know what else Cthulhu might have brewing. You'd think they'd ask me to help with that, but I guess not, huh?"

"Family matters can be prickly," Suzi said, looking towards the end of the house her mother had darkened. "Don't give up hope, Sokka. Time heals all wounds..."

"No, actually, it doesn't. Time lets things rot. It makes people forget things they should remember, and remember things they should probably just forget. Don't talk to me about what time heals when the person I care about is going to spend a lot of it locked up and going crazy, okay?"

"Okay. Sorry. I'm just trying to help."

"Well, you can't, so take the night off and relax why don't ya?"

"When did you say you were leaving, exactly?"

"In the morning if that's okay with you."

"Whatever," Suzi said, getting up and breezing out of the room.

He chewed haphazardly, tasting nothing and hating himself.

When he was done, he got up to wash the plate in a basin and as he toweled it dry Suzi came back like a passing shadow on her way to the living room.

"Hey," he said as she walked past him. She stopped and spun around, hands on her hips. His words hesitated only for a moment at the sight of her anger. "I was a jerk just now. I'm sorry. I've put you through a lot."

"Yes, you have," she said.

She stepped closer, looking to make sure they were alone and out of anyone's earshot.

"You know I thought I loved you," she said, causing his neck to stiffen.

"I'm sorry if I ever led you on. I never meant to," he said, his hand on the back of his neck.

"It's okay, I'm over it, and it was mostly me being stupid. But that night at the party when you said what you said, I..."

"I was an idiot then," he said, hating that memory more than anything. "Suzi, you're amazing. I don't deserve you and neither do most of the guys in the Fire Nation. If you ever need anything from me..."

She kissed him. A quick peck on the lips. "Sorry," she said, blushing. "I had to have at least one. I know I look like her, and how I must make you feel."

"That's not your problem," Sokka said. "I think I am going to go in the morning. I'm going to get Aang to check on Azula for me, give her a message if he can, then I'm going to take Nekka back and try to set what little I can right. Maybe Zuko and the others will let me help tie up some other loose ends."

"That's what I loved about you, Sokka, you always had to be out trying to make the world a better place. Good night."

Before she could leave there was a knock on the door. Sokka answered it and was surprised to see Ty Lee holding a bag and standing there in the evening rain beneath an umbrella held by Mai.

"Uh..."

"I think, 'come in,' are the words you're looking for," said Mai.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, come on in," he said.

Their eyes immediately went to Suzi, who smiled and exchanged greetings with them. It seemed they had been introduced at some point. "Shall I put on some tea?" Suzi asked.

"That would be wonderful!" chirped Ty Lee, who was not wearing her Kyoshi Warrior armor, but a pink outfit consisting of poofy pantaloons and a top that showed off her narrow stomach.

"I hate to be rude, but after the tea we were hoping to speak with Sokka in private. We know it's your house and all," said Mai, her voice like an afternoon nap.

"Oh, of course," Suzi said. "Our home is Sokka's home for as long as he wants."

They all sat and made small talk while the tea water heated. Mai had little to say, and Ty Lee seemed to bond with Suzi over inane things like the flower designs on the tea cups. Sokka insisted on pouring the tea, and Suzi bid them a good night after they were served.

"So, what do you two want with me?" he asked.

"What do you see in Azula?" asked Mai.

Her face was a barren snow-scape while Ty Lee's eyes screamed curiosity. Sokka took a deep breath and held up his hands.

"Look, no offense but I'm done defending myself over her, so unless there's something else..."

"You don't need to defend yourself, we just want to know," said Ty Lee. "We were friends with her for a long time. She has some really good qualities...and some really bad ones. We just want to know why you like her."

"We're not here to change your mind," said Mai. "We have our reasons for asking."

He stammered for a moment, caught between mistrust, confusion, and a basic inability to explain what he felt.

"It's not about her qualities, it's just that I got to know her and...have feelings for her. I don't know. Why does anybody love anybody?"

"You love her?" asked Mai.

"That's so sweet! Strange and kinda sad, but sweet," chimed Ty Lee.

"Right, well, I'm glad I could clear that all up for you, so..."

"What would you do if she was free?" asked Mai.

"I don't know...be with her, I guess. Depends on what Zuko lets her do, but I don't think he's in the mood to let her do much more than rot in a cell."

"And you're just going to sit here and accept it?" asked Mai.

"I don't see what other choice I have for the time being," he said, narrowing his eyes and trying to find treachery in their faces. Mai's may as well have been stone while Ty Lee's betrayed nothing besides keen interest.

"Liar," said Mai.

"What? Okay, I don't have to deal with this. It's time for you two to leave."

"We're not done here yet," said Mai. "We were all at the Boiling Rock together, remember? You broke into the Fire Nation's best prison to bust out your old girlfriend, and now you want us all to believe you're going to sit on your hands while Azula goes crazier in that cheap asylum?"

"Suki told us all about the parts we weren't around for," said Ty Lee. "I've never heard of anything more romantic."

Sokka's fingers clenched and he bowed his head. Of course they knew he planned to free Azula. Zuko had been at the Boiling Rock, too. It was no accident he had sent these two to talk about this, all the better to put him on notice against trying anything.

He felt like flipping the table or shouting, but when he raised his head all he could do was choke back tears of anger and frustration. "What does Zuko expect? Go back and tell the Fire Lord he might as well toss me in prison, too, because I'm not giving up. Ever."

He said this through clenched teeth, which made Ty Lee sit back and Mai reach inside her sleeve. "Zuko didn't send us," Mai said.

"We decided to come after I talked to the Old One," said Ty Lee.

"You talked to the Old One?" Sokka asked, his composure returning along with confusion. "Is it holding office hours now or something?"

Mai sighed. "Ty Lee insisted on seeing it."

"It was so much fun! What a strange being. I've never seen anything so bizarre in my life. I loved its voice. Like a talking flute!"

"She asked it the kind of questions you can imagine she would, but then they got onto you and Azula," said Mai, resting her chin in her hand.

"It said you loved her even though she's a sociopath with no real feelings," said Ty Lee. "I think that's kinda harsh, but still so sweet."

Sokka looked to Mai for some kind of rational explanation of their point, but the woman was only growing colder and harder to read.

"I still don't understand what you two want from me," he said.

"The Old One also told us everything Azula did to help. I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe Zuko is being too hard on her. We're not fans of Azula, but you're okay, and given you're going to get yourself killed or locked up over her..."

"We want to help you!" shouted Ty Lee, holding up the bag she had brought. "Help you free her, I mean, not get locked up or killed. That would be terrible."

If this was a trap, Sokka decided to blunder into it. He had no other options, for his own half-formed plan to free Azula was an awful one.

"I'm listening," he said.

Ty Lee dumped the contents of the bag she held onto the table. It was a Kyoshi Warrior's armor complete with a war paint kit. "We'll need this. Don't worry, it's not for you."

"Does Suki know about this?" asked Sokka.

"Toph is the only other person who knows," said Mai. "She's going to help us, too."

Sokka took a deep breath and wondered how much he owed Toph now.

"Okay," he said. "Tell me what I have to do."

-888-

At least there was silence.

And there was light.

Azula lay on a cot facing a red stone wall. No less than four healers, and Healer Bin herself, had spoken to her since her return to the asylum. She had been taken out of the straight jacket, bathed, and given a light red tunic to wear. A heavily armored guard was posted outside her cell, a man she could slay easily if she wanted, but not without raising an alarm. Azula knew the routine. If she acted out, things got taken away.

She had been fine with that before, when the voices in her head would not be quiet. The only thing that had calmed them to any degree was violence and fire, and it had been worth losing sunlight, food, and bedding to have silence between her ears. When they moved her to the dark cell there was nothing she could do to drown out the whispers, which grew louder and more insistent. It was there she had to embrace the dark, lest it break the deepest part of her.

She could not go back there, not now. The light from her window was something she treasured, even if it was sometimes dim from the rainclouds and went away during the night. Let them all think she was weak. Let them think she was broken.

In a sense, she was.

Azula had left everything she had outside, with him. She knew she had been drugged and could not rely on her memory, but she knew the images in her mind were not lies. She was screaming and there he was, standing silently as the hood came down over her head and she was wheeled away.

-He's not like you,- she thought. -He has friends, real ones. He and his sibling love each other. You never stood a chance, you insipid little fool.-

Such harsh self-criticism was something new to her, and she took to it easily. She had never understood some of the other prisoners in the asylum, the ones who scratched and cut themselves for their own bizarre reasons, but now their ways made sense even if she did not see the appeal. Yet.

The sound of a door opening down the hall brought her out of her reverie but she did not turn around, having recognized the light footsteps of Healer Bin. The woman stopped at the cell door, unafraid of what Azula might do to her.

"Azula, are you awake?" Bin asked. "Sleeping during the day is not a healthy choice."

Azula rolled over, and on seeing Bin knew she lacked what it took to summon a burst of fire and burn the woman away once and for all.

-Looks like you really are beaten,- she thought. - I suppose no one is bottomless.-

"I wasn't aware I had other activities to choose from," Azula said.

"I've offered to supply you with scrolls, writing tools, paints. I was told you had some artistic ability, perhaps you could express how you're feeling that way better than you can with your words."

Azula laughed, thinking of her depiction of Cthulhu at R'lyeh, the one she had made in her old cell by charring the wall. "Didn't you hear? My muse was plucked from my head by a magic man. Let me out of here, I'm not insane."

"That's an archaic word we don't feel is useful any longer," said Bin. "Mental health is no different that physical health, Azula. You broke your leg some time ago and needed healing, well it's the same with a person's mind. The difference is you need to let us help you for it to work."

Azula got up and started towards Bin, who took a step back as the guard behind her moved closer. -She's brave,- Azula thought. -Maybe she knows I couldn't muster a hot breath much less a fireball.-

"We both know I'm a political prisoner, Bin, so if you're really interested in my mental health I'd advise you to stop bothering me. You're what's driving me mad."

"Do you still hear your mother's voice? Have there been any recent hallucinations?"

"Yes!" Azula said, the false cheer in her voice making Bin recoil. "I hallucinated that I'd helped saved the world from a terrifying spirit! It must have been a hallucination, because I'm still locked in here. Don't you think if I'd really done that I'd be treated like a hero? Or at least allowed to walk around where I pleased?"

"Feelings of anger would be normal in your situation," said Bin.

"Well I'm not normal, because I'm not angry. It all makes perfect sense. Zuko is doing this because he hates and fears me, and the one person who might have helped me had other obligations. Friends and family, people I could never compete with. It's all very logical how things turned out, so there's nothing for me to be angry about, Bin "

"Sad, perhaps?" she asked, taking notes in her mind, probably thinking Azula would be more defensive if she held a notepad.

"Let me out of here and I'll perk right up."

"If we see some progress we may be able to arrange some time in the gardens," said Bin. She glanced to her side, as if consulting some invisible chart then met Azula's eyes directly. "I'll be truthful with you, the Fire Lord won't let you go free. I could lie to him and tell him you are no longer in need of mental healing, but that would just get you moved somewhere else where you would not get the help I truly believe you need."

"I don't need help," Azula said, her anger finally rising, muted and tired.

"You've been through a great deal of trauma. It's a shame there's such a stigma attached to mind healing, it makes working with people so much harder than it needs to be. Think of this as an opportunity. What do you have to lose by letting us help you?"

-I'll lose myself completely,- she thought.

"I don't need anyone's help!" she shouted. Even her anger had lost its heat, she realized. "I don't need to talk to anyone, I don't need you drugging me constantly, and I don't need to be kept in a cage."

Bin pursed her lips. "We haven't been drugging you. You were given a sedative for the hearing to prevent an outburst, but otherwise we haven't had the need. Why do you think we're drugging you?"

"So you can scold me for sleeping all the time," she said. Bin was taking more mental notes while Azula gauged how close she was to the bars and how far her arms could reach through them.

"You haven't used your bending at all since the hearing. Can you bend for me now?"

"Why, so your guards can beat me and throw me in a dirtier cell? You won't get the satisfaction."

More mental notes, and Bin stepped closer. She held no fear of any kind. "Normally, I'd say this was a bad sign, but there has been some anecdotal evidence that troubled benders sometimes lose the ability completely just before they reach an epiphany about their mental and spiritual condition. You've finally hit rock bottom in other words. Nowhere to go but up. I think someday you'll be ready to rejoin polite socie..."

Azula lunged at her, her arms slipping through the gaps in the iron. Bin shrieked as she was grabbed by the front of her robes, but the guard behind her had not been inattentive, and it became a short tug of war over the mind healer, which Azula lost.

"Polite society!? Let me tell you something, Bin, I am a princess of the Fire Nation and rightful Fire Lord! Polite society is what I say it is. I was never wrong about anything I did, I just happened to end up on the losing side of a war! I..." It was hard to breath. Something had sucked the air from her lungs and she felt cold. "What...what's happening..."

"An herb mixture we've been testing," said Bin. "When you become upset, your body produces certain substances that react with the mixture. I'd advise you to calm down as best you can. We'll continue this tomorrow."

Azula staggered back to her bunk where she sat down and let the episode ride itself out. Her arms and legs were numb and wobbly, and so she lay down to focus on her breathing. At some point, fatigue hit her like a wave and pulled her under.

-888-

She was awake when her evening meal came. She had been conscious for some hours and tried working herself into a rage as best she could to see if the drug still had a hold of her. Not wanting to arouse suspicions, she remained still. If she could catch the guard bringing her food, what happened then would be talked about far and wide, this she vowed to herself as she rolled over to face the darkness of the hall.

It was a Kyoshi Warrior. She held a tray in her hands while she raised the key to the cell and opened it all with her foot. -Perfect,- Azula thought, making a show of weakness as she crawled forward.

"Ty Lee, it's been too long," said Azula.

"Hi, Azula. It's...good to see you again."

"Same here," she replied.

Ty Lee, for all her bubbling idiocy, was a monster in close combat. Azula did not expect to win, not in her condition, but she was certainly going to give her former friend something to remember her by. Ty Lee set the food tray on the floor and reached behind her to produce a wrapped bundle. A blanket, most likely, some insipid act of contrition. -Too weak to hold a grudge, Ty Lee. Too bad, it might have saved you.-

"You should eat this," said Ty Lee.

"I'm starving," said Azula.

She lunged. Ty Lee had been more cautious than she let on, and caught Azula's arm. Azula spun, trying to catch the girl with her elbow, but Ty Lee dropped them both low and the blow hit her in the helmet. Azula wondered why she was not being chi blocked as she rolled over like a cat gator in a death spin, attempting to get Ty Lee beneath her.

Luck was on her side. She pinned one of Ty Lee's arms with her knee, caught her other wrist, leaving her free hand to clamp over her throat. "I was just going to horrendously disfigure you, but now it looks like I can do better!" Azula said, letting her eyes go wide while baring her teeth.

"Azu-la..." Ty Lee said, stretching her neck to point at something with her head. Azula's fingers knew where the right arteries were, she knew how to rupture a windpipe, but she held off and kept the pressure steady. "The bu-ndle...open..."

Her fingers relaxed on Ty Lee's throat. "What's inside it?"

"A uniform. Azula, I'm helping you escape!" Ty Lee croaked.

Azula retracted her hands like she had dipped them in scalding water. "Ty Lee..."

Ty Lee coughed and rubbed her throat. The hardness in the girl's eyes was not something Azula was used to seeing there and it froze her. "Good old Azula, always hurting the ones trying to help you. Get off me."

Azula retreated to the sleeping bench and sat down, unable to stop from shaking. "Ty Lee, I'm sorry. I thought..."

"Thought that if you couldn't get your way then you'd make somebody suffer for it. Whatever, I'm not surprised."

"Then why are you helping me? You hate me, why not let me rot in here?"

Ty Lee threw the heavy bundle at Azula, who caught it against her stomach. "I'm not helping you, I'm helping that silly Water Tribe boy who's going to get himself killed over you."

"Sokka," she said. "But he..."

"He couldn't help you right away, and not on his own. Did you think he abandoned you or something?"

Azula nodded, dumbly. "Who hasn't?"

She unwrapped the bundle and saw it was a Kyoshi Warrior's armor. She had worn a set before, used it to infiltrate and topple Ba Sing Se. "Azula, look at me," Ty Lee said. "Do you love him?"

Azula scowled. "Shut up, unless you want me to finish what I started just now."

"Let me hear you say it, or I call this whole thing off and chi block you. That boy might be better off without you after all."

Azula clutched the armor and she considered calling Ty Lee's bluff. "Yes, I love him."

Ty Lee brushed the dirt from her armor and felt her throat before tying a green ribbon around it to hide the smudged paint. "You're probably lying, but Mai and I both agreed I'd get you to at least say it."

Sneering, Azula donned the armor. "Mai is helping too, is she? Could this be an elaborate plan to get me thrown into a deeper hole or maybe even executed?"

"The more you talk the more I think this was a bad idea, so just stop," said Ty Lee. "It's not good for my aura to say things like this, Azula, but you don't deserve that boy at all. And you'd better not hurt him."

Azula laughed in disbelief. She supposed she should stop antagonizing her rescuer, but something made it hard not to. -What would that awful healer, Bin, say? Ah, that I feel guilty about hurting my friends and I attack my guilt by attacking them. Stupid.-

"Hold still, I'll have to do this quick," said Ty Lee when Azula was ready for the war paint. A true Kyoshi Warrior could apply it to herself flawlessly without a mirror, but Azula had only been painted once before, by Ty Lee no less, and they had used captured warriors for reference.

There was something squirmingly intimate about having someone paint her face that made Azula's features like a mask. Ty Lee coped by focusing all her attention on specific points of Azula's face, not taking in the big picture.

"Remember the first time we did this," Azula asked, moving only her lips.

"Don't talk."

"You're painting my forehead, it doesn't matter if I talk."

She moved to color the area around Azula's mouth. "Yes, I remember. Mai got some in her eyes and complained the whole way to Ba Sing Se."

"I miss those days," said Azula.

"We don't."

Azula grabbed Ty Lee by the shoulders firmly, but without aggression. "I...regret some things. It couldn't have been all bad for you?"

Ty Lee looked around as if someone might hear. "No, it wasn't all bad. We had fun, but it wasn't how mean you were that we hated, it was how you made sure we were always afraid of you. That day you showed up at the circus to recruit me was the worst day of my life, because I knew I'd always be afraid. That's why I'm not doing this for you, not even a little bit."

Azula chose to nod, for there was no way to explain that when one was a princess in the Fire Nation, a member of the line of Sozin, one had to be sufficiently feared lest they end up dead or gone. Or locked away.

"Thank you, anyway," said Azula, and let Ty Lee finish painting her.

"You can thank me by being good to Sokka. He'll have no one but you now, and I hope you understand that."

She did understand, and it caused in her a strange mixture of satisfaction and guilt. Before leaving, they hid the uneaten food, left the tray where it could be seen, and stuffed the blanket on the cot as best they could to stave off the escape alarm for as long as possible.

Azula felt good in the armor despite it being ill-fitting and heavy. It let her ply a skill she was good at, lying. She walked like she belonged next to Ty Lee, patrolling the corridors as they made their way towards the exit.

"You there," said Bin as they entered the courtyard. Bin came from one of the administration buildings carrying a scroll under her arm. "Did Princess Azula get her meal?"

"Yes," said Ty Lee. "We just left her."

"Did you see her eat it? It's important she eats it. Poor nutrition leads to poor mental health."

"She ate it all up," said Ty Lee.

Azula risked nudging Ty Lee and giving her a stern look.

"I mean...we had to convince her to eat first," said Ty Lee, slapping a fist into her palm.

Azula sighed.

"We didn't have to get very rough before she cooperated. She's asleep now."

"Ah, you're sure? You took back the tray and chopsticks I trust?"

"Yes,of course," said Ty Lee. "We can go back and double-check if you want."

"No, that won't be necessary. If she ate her entire dinner she should be fine until the early morning. Well, good night then."

Bin strode towards the section of the asylum where those who worked sometimes slept when their shifts ran tight together and it was not worth making the trip home.

"What were they putting in your food?" asked Ty Lee.

Azula did not answer and started walking, letting Ty Lee take the lead. They walked to the beach, then up a pig sheep trail to the top of a hill. There was no one there except Mai, her pale face like a beacon in the dark.

"Mai, I suppose I should thank you as well," said Azula.

"Save your breath," she said. "Was there any trouble?" this she asked Ty Lee.

"Not really, but being slowpokes now would be a really bad idea. Is everything ready?"

"Yeah. I think he's got the hang of the thing."

"What's the plan?" asked Azula. She got no answer as she was led down the other side of the hill and through a wooded area where the night insects were out in force rivaling the evening chorus of the Foggy Bottom Swamp. This was a song Azula was familiar with, though, and she was briefly arrested by it, knowing it might be many years before she could listen to these particular insects and night creatures again.

In a clearing, silhouetted against the sky was a war balloon. Its design made it look more like one of the larger airships. The basket was long, and partly open making her think of a canal boat. She took a rag from her pocket and wiped the Kyoshi Warrior paint from her face. Newly applied, it came off easily and she looked around for Sokka.

He came out of the woods carrying an armload of supplies, which he dropped when he saw her. They embraced tightly, Azula not caring in the slightest about the looks she was getting. She gasped when she saw Toph step out of the woods, but Sokka soothed her.

"Easy, the balloon is Toph's. Her dad gave it to her. Kind of a, 'please come home,' present. A pretty clueless one seeing as how she hates flying."

She hugged him again, not caring about the blind earthbender in the slightest. "I thought you'd left me," she said. "I shouldn't have doubted you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep you out of that place. Was it bad?"

"They didn't have time. Bin likes to start small," she said, kissing him.

Toph loaded the supplies she was carrying into the balloon and nudged Sokka from behind. "That's the last of it. You should have no problem finding the Yu Dao colony with the map I got you."

"So that's where we're going?" asked Azula. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"A lot happened there in the three years since the war ended," Sokka said. "The colonies are their own nation now. Sort of. It's complicated, but we should be safe there. People all over the world looking for new starts are making their way to it."

A breeze made the balloon sway and the grass around their feet swish against their legs. Azula removed the heavy parts of the armor she wore and handed them to Ty Lee, who told her to keep it. Azula let them drop hard into the balloon. "I'm ready when you are," Azula said.

"One second," said Toph, and she ran to the woods.

From out of the dark leaves came Aang and Katara. Azula barely registered that her bending was back as her hands came aflame. "We're betrayed!"

"No, hang on," said Sokka, stepping in front of her.

"They figured it out on their own, so don't blame me," said Toph, as the flames went out.

"We didn't come to stop you," said Aang. "We came to say goodbye."

Sokka clapped his friend on the shoulder and looked to his sister. She wore a thick vest and a long, blue cloth skirt. "Are you okay with this?" Sokka asked.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"That's as good as I'm going to get, so I'll take it," Sokka said, hugging her. She returned the embrace fiercely and whispered something in his ear.

When they parted, Aang approached Azula and held out his hand. "Azula, thank you for everything you've done to help. I'll make sure no one forgets it."

"You're welcome, Avatar Aang," said Azula, taking his wrist and holding it firmly before letting go.

Katara stood behind the Avatar, her arms crossed over her chest. Her brown hair hung looser than usual and bounced carelessly in the breeze.

"Do I have to say it?" she asked, her eyes the color of flint in the starlight.

"No," said Azula, knowing there would be time later to teach the girl a lesson, and plenty of time in between to think about how to best do it.

"Well, time to get a move on," said Sokka, climbing into the balloon with Azula. The stakes holding it down were pulled, and it began to rise as he worked the controls. below, hands waved, none of them aimed at Azula, but still she could pretend a little if she wanted.

No one could tell her not to.

-888-

That night passed in silence, neither wanting to spoil the feeling that they had become new people by uttering old words.

The balloon controls were easy enough to learn if all one had to do was keep it on course, and this Azula did after Sokka gave her a brief lesson before going to sleep at dawn.

As the balloon headed northwest, Azula thought about life in the colonies, how colonials were the butt of many a native Fire National's jokes and how she would be living the life of a fugitive and a bumpkin. It was a far cry from the royal routine she was accustomed to and deserved, and she would not have the benefit of telling herself she was roughing it temporarily. There was no mission now, all there was to do was live.

It made her shake. Sokka noticed this when he woke up and put his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong? Cold?"

"I'm afraid," she said.

"We're not going to get caught, don't worry. Toph said she can find and pay June to not come after us if a bounty goes out, which isn't likely given all the work Zuko's got on his plate."

Azula shook her head, and took his hand, pulling it to her cheek. "I don't know how to live with you, Sokka. I could barely live with myself before."

"What are you talking about? We've been living just fine this entire time. With each other and ourselves."

"We've lived in camps while being chased by monsters. What are we going to do now? Get jobs? Live in a shack? Raise...animals? I don't know how peasants live!"

He laughed and patted her on the head before kissing it. "You're scared that we won't be able to stand each other outside crazy situations and that you'll end up alone again? Me too."

Her throat caught and she clutched his hand harder.

"I was thinking about it all night, actually," he continued, calm and carefree. "I can't imagine arguing with you over chores, or where to put furniture, or how much time I spend hunting, or any of the stuff I remember dad and my mom talking about."

She stood up to face him, thinking madly that his plan was to dump her off in the colonies. If so, he was being foolish playing his hand so soon. She grabbed him and pulled him closer. "What are you saying?" she asked, unable to comprehend the mirth in his blue eyes.

"I'm saying," he kissed her lips. "How many of those Cthulhu cults are out there? How many towns like Outer-Maw? Seems like everywhere we went there was something once you knew what to look for."

She felt a rising sensation in her chest, something she could not remember having felt since she was little. "They're probably everywhere," she said. "Plotting, planning who knows what."

"No doubt about it," Sokka said, caressing her cheek. "I mean, yeah, someday I'd like to settle down, but in the mean time you're the world's greatest firebender and I'm kind of a boomerang guy, it'd be a shame if we didn't go around the world knocking squid-heads together for a while. Do you like the sound of that?"

Her grin was wide, wider than she liked and it hurt her face. "I do," she said.

For a reply, his kiss was deep and long. He pulled her in tight and she wrapped her arms around his back. There was nothing to make her let him go. No people, no monsters. Held in his arms, in the aura of his warmth there was no past to regret, no future to fear. The feeling did not leave when they pulled apart, and it was then Azula knew that come what may she could hold onto the memory of that instant forever.


	28. Epilogue/Letters

"Dear Suki,

I hope you're doing okay. We didn't get a chance to talk like I wanted, and I'm sorry for that. You deserve better. I hope you can forgive me someday, but if not I'll understand. Things have a way of getting out of control and there's a lot of stuff that I wish hadn't went down the way they did.

I want you to know, there were no other girls. I know how that sounds given who I'm with, but I want the record straight. I don't know what you heard, but from the time I came to the Fire Nation to live, until all that stuff happened, there was only you. I should have wrote you more letters, I should have tried to see you more, but somehow the work I was doing always seemed more important. That's not the right word. More pressing? Yeah, that's it, pressing. Either way, it was my fault. I've been getting told a lot lately that I shouldn't beat myself up over stuff, but when it comes to you, to us, I deserve it.

Anyway, I'm doing good. I hope you are, too. I really want us to be able to get together again someday and laugh about old times. No fire wine this time.

Yours, Sokka.

P.S. I'd tell you where to send letters to me, but we're on the move a lot.

-888-

"Dear Nekka,

Hey, long time no see. I hope this letter finds you well. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to you, or take you back to the Northern Water Tribe. I hope you made it home safe.

I really can't thank you enough. The world owes you big time, so don't take any nonsense from anybody. Out of all of us, I think you suffered the most. Everyone says you'll never be the same as you were, but I'm pulling for ya. I once kissed a girl with white hair, you know.

Uh, don't take that the wrong way. Man, letters are awkward. Azula says thanks, too. No, really. Anyway, I was hoping you could thank Dekken for me, and Chief Arnook if you see him. Finding messenger hawks and couriers is kinda hard, otherwise I'd send my 'thank yous' to everyone.

Take care, Nekka.

Your friend, Sokka.

P.S. I've said prayers for Sifu Misso. I won't forget him."

-888-

"Dear Katara,

I love you. I don't think I've said that often enough. It feels weird, like it should go without saying. Maybe it does. Sorry for being weird. I'm sorry for a lot of things. Everything, really. As messed up as it was, I did it all to protect you, but I guess I was the one who needed help, not you. You're the strong one, Katara, and I don't mean just for your bending.

I get scared when I think about you. Those last few weeks we were together I felt like something between us was broken. I'm probably the one who broke it. Please tell me it's not broken forever. I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you. That was a huge breach of trust and you have every right to feel like you do, but I hope you'll let me build that trust back again.

I can't apologize for loving Azula. I know you don't like it, and I get why, I really do, but I can't apologize for her.

On a lighter note, we're both doing pretty good. I can't say too much about where we are and what we're up to, not until after the equinox, hopefully we can meet up soon and by then Zuko will have calmed down. Anyway, say hi to everyone for me just in case my letters don't all get through.

Love, Sokka."

-888-

"Dear Suzi,

I hope you're doing well. I've been sending letters to everybody I didn't get a chance to say everything to before I left. I think you and I had a good talk last we saw each other, but it felt wrong not to write to you.

I think your dad would be proud of you. You put your neck on the line for not a lot in return, and even before that you did a lot to keep me sane during those years I spent as an ambassador. Just so we're clear, I never lost sight of who you really were, even though you look like someone else I know.

Take care, Suzi. I may find myself in need of a Fire Nation-style breakfast someday soon.

Your friend, Sokka.

P.S. Tell your mom thanks for everything."

-888-

"Mai and Ty Lee,

First, sorry for not sending you each a letter, but sending these things is getting rough and I never know what to say in them. Second, thanks for everything. I know that doesn't really cut it given how much I owe you, but it's all I can do for now. I hope I get the chance to get to know you two a little better down the road, you both seem pretty cool. Not seem. You are pretty cool. Way cool. Ugh. I hate letters.

Uh, Azula is doing okay. I thought you might want to know that. I think she's grateful to the people who helped us, but you know how she is. I don't want to put words in her mouth and I know how anything I say about her will sound, so I won't go into it. Anyway, take care.

Your pal,

Sokka.

P.S. Ty Lee, keep an eye on Suki for me."

-888-

"Zuzu,

Where do I begin? Sokka has convinced me to write this stupid letter in the belief it will make me feel better about you somehow. Given that it will likely never reach you, I find saying anything of use to be rather difficult. On second thought, perhaps that makes this easier.

If I didn't know you any better, Zuzu, I'd be tempted to say you've proven yourself stronger than I thought. That's certainly what it looks like on the outside, but I know the truth. You treated me like you did because you feared me. And who can blame you? I did everything I could to make everyone I knew live in terror of what I could do to them. I think even father would have come to fear me in time, and given how he handles such things perhaps it's for the best the war turned out like it did.

Since I'll likely burn this letter when I'm finished, I may as well tell you that I was wrong about fear. I should have known, given what happened to grandfather. He thought fear would protect him, that it was safer to be feared rather than loved because fear is the single greatest motivating force a human can experience.

But it's not, Zuzu, as I'm sure you know. How many times did you risk life and limb to restore your lost honor? Your shame was stronger than your fear.

The funny part is, I should have known fear's limits long before I pushed them to the breaking point. I know something about fear, Zuko, and not just how to instill it in others. I've felt it quite acutely, actually. I'm sure you've heard by now what really happened to me in the south pole? The real reason why I woke up screaming the nights after I returned home, my leg still broken. You can't imagine it, Zuzu, the horror. It's no simple terror, no quick blood rush caused by a sudden threat to your life, but something so much more. It lingers, you see. Much like the pain from a broken bone. There's the initial snap, you barely feel it, you're not even sure what's happened, but then comes the agony. It's not as sharp as the initial hurt, but it's strong, but worst of all it's enduring. It may leave you alone for a moment, but that's just so you can appreciate it all the more when it comes roaring back! Even after you're supposedly healed, on rainy, dark days you can still remember the screaming ache. It's just reminding you is all, making sure you don't forget about it, otherwise it might come back in full force and never stop.

Ah, but I digress. Badly, it seems. The point I'm making, should you need it spelled out for you, is as powerful as fear can be there are things more powerful still. Love, for instance. And I don't mean false love, something faked, but the real thing. It's like fire, Zuzu. I don't know if you felt it with Mai, but if you did...well, it's your life, do what you like, just stop being afraid of me.

I know you'll take that as all the more reason to be afraid. Perhaps I'll think up some token of good will, some gesture or action that will make you finally trust me, but until then let me just wish you all the best, and long may you reign.

Regards,

Azula.

P.S. Forever is a long time, Zuzu, so don't even think about letting anyone in my room, and don't touch any of my things."

-888-

"Sokka,

You need to send me a letter as soon as you can. I've sent this to a dozen different places where you might turn up. Zuko says he won't punish you or Azula. He's as worried as everyone else is about you two. Yes, I said you two.

Sokka, we won. For good this time. Maybe you know all too well, but the star-spawn were defeated at the south pole. It looked pretty bad for a while. A few days before the spring equinox, they launched a massive assault on the outpost and for a while the Old One's machine didn't work. If the Earth Kingdom hadn't sent help when they did, I don't think we would have pulled through. Sokka, those monsters were holding back when they were chasing us. Some of those things they sent to the south I'll never forget as hard as I try. How could anything like that have lived on earth? I'd pray to the universe that they're all gone, but Sokka, I don't think I want the universe to know I exist.

Sorry. I'm okay. There's a few things you should know. Toph got hurt pretty bad. She's one of the reasons we're all still here, and she'll make a full recovery under my care, but we almost lost her. I'm trying not to cry thinking about how close she was.

The Old One is dead. It was destroyed by the shoggoths while trying to turn the machine back on. I don't know how you feel about it, him, it, whatever, and truth be told I don't know how to feel either. All I know is it wanted to help us, for whatever reason.

Just so you know, the Mechanist sent word that the Northern Air Temple was torn apart. It happened not long after you and Azula were there, we think. You guys ended up doing the right thing when you got the crystal out of there.

Nekka said the machine should run fine on its own, and even if it doesn't we won't have to worry about this again for a long, long time. She tried to explain just how long, to comfort us I think, but that kind of stuff gets creepy.

Sokka, we heard stories from the people who fought in the tunnels about blue fire and lightning . Someone also said they found a broken boomerang, but it got lost and I never saw it to know if it was Water Tribe make. Sokka, please, come back. Send word. Go to the Fire Nation, go to our village, I don't care just please let me know you're alive. Nothing was ever broken between us. Bent a little, but never broken. You'll always be my brother.

I love you,

Katara."

-888-

General Iroh,

Greetings from the Northern Water Tribe, I hope this letter reaches you in good health. We didn't get to know each other very well during all the trouble, but since then I've heard a great deal about you, and especially the Order of the White Lotus. I've done some research of my own into the group and what I've learned is the reason I'm contacting you now.

I've given a great deal of thought to my words, for I don't wish to sound presumptuous, but I fear I may, so please forgive me, and also forgive me if I meander, for the point I'm tying to make is both crucial and difficult to explain.

We were lucky to have thwarted Cthulhu and his minions on earth. I don't mean to disparage anyone, but it would not be unreasonable to say that good fortune can lay claim to the moose lion's share of the credit. Just think, where would we be right now if three years ago Sokka had not gone to intercept that airship over the south pole? What would have happened had not those singular events played themselves out exactly as they did? We would have been completely in the dark as to the forces that moved against us and in all likelihood would not have prevailed.

As a historian, I can't begin to tell you how powerful the corrosive effects of time are. Time wears down mountains, dries up seas, and some doomsayers claim will even snuff out the sun one day. As for human works and accumulated knowledge, time washes these things away like sand on a rock. Ask Wan Shi Tong how easily knowledge slips away into dust and ruin.

The stars will not be in alignment to facilitate Cthulhu's return for a very long time. I suspect our race will have long since vanished by then, but given some of the other beings that have been encountered during these happenings, I worry that we still have much to fear from beings that dwell in the Outside.

I dream about them sometimes. More so than any human should. I hope you won't take that admission as a sign of madness. I think you know better.

To my point, since the White Lotus has existed for centuries, it is a group that possesses a great deal of institutional memory. Normally, the accumulated knowledge of an individual dies with them. All that survives is what they taught others who live on and teach in turn. When formalized, a great deal of knowledge can be passed down and kept, for lack of a better phrase, in mind.

You may be thinking that the Avatar, with his connection to his past lives, serves this role admirably, but I would point out that much of the avatar's strength in this regard was nearly lost. Twice, if you think about it, and who knows what may happen in the future?

I apologize for the lengthy discourse, I'll get to the point, and again, forgive my presumptuousness.

I'd like to ask the White Lotus to serve as caretakers of a certain type of lore previously studied and sought out only by lonely scholars, maladjusted mystics, and callous knowledge spirits. In the hands of the White Lotus, such lore would be protected and bits and pieces passed down to trusted individuals who would keep a sort of watch on strange world events, that way we would not be caught unprepared against threats from the Outside.

I will await your response, and I will understand if this is not something the White Lotus feels is appropriate for it to undertake, but I feel this needs to be done by someone, somewhere.

With respect,

Nekka."

-888-

"Dear Gran Gran,

I owe you a lot of letters. I've been pretty busy this past year. I'm guessing news has probably reached you about why. It's a pretty crazy story and I can't wait to tell it to you, I just don't know when I'll be able to, and it's kinda long to put in a letter. There's some stuff I want to tell you, though, stuff I want to get off my chest that I can't really tell anyone else.

The problem is, you might technically be the last person I want to know this. I'm sorry for saying that, it's just that I remember how much I hated the Fire Nation after what happened to mom, and I know they were making us suffer long before that, so...

I'm sorry, Gran Gran, I shouldn't make assumptions about you. I know I've always been able to tell you anything and so here it goes.

I'm in love with a Fire Nation girl. That doesn't sound so bad, but hang on. You might want to sit down, actually.

It's Princess Azula.

Yeah, that Princess Azula. I want to say that what you've heard is exaggerated, but it's not. Complicated, is the best spin I could put on her, and I know that's a tough thing for a guy to say about his girlfriend. I dunno, maybe you know how I feel just a little bit.

I don't want to say I've made a mistake, because I haven't. I love her, Gran Gran, I really do. For a while I thought it was just because we'd been through some hard times together, alone, but it's more than that. I've been in love before, I know what it feels like. I can picture you laughing now for some reason, but trust me on this.

As you might expect, all my friends hate her. And I can't really blame them. We went through kind of the same thing with Zuko, but in the end he came around and did what was right. You can't say the same for Azula. Sure, she fought to save the world from an evil spirit, but that's kinda the same thing as saving yourself, you know?

Don't tell anyone I said this, Gran Gran, and burn this letter after you're done, but the thing about Azula is all the bad stuff, it's there. I think she doesn't act on a lot of it because of me, but if I wasn't here, I think she'd be back to her old self. I feel like an elbow leech for saying that, but it's true, and I think even she'd admit it.

So why am I with her? Why did I choose her over all my friends and family? I don't know, and it's driving me kinda crazy. I don't regret being with her, I love her like I said. Maybe that's it. Do you need a reason to love somebody? Does it have to be because of something, or can it just kinda be there? She's not just what everyone says, there's stuff I think only I see. Her mother left her when she was little and I think deep down that hurt her really badly. It's a crazy story, kind of a family secret I shouldn't say too much about, but her mother left to protect Zuko from their dad. Azula is convinced, even now, that her mother hated her. I don't think that's true, but it's a subject I know better than to argue with her over. I know what it's like to have a mother taken, but I can't say how I'd feel if I thought she abandoned me.

I just realized something. Me, my friends, everybody, we all understand something about loss, about pain, so why can't we seem to understand each other? If they could hear Azula cry in her sleep like she does sometimes...

Yeah, burn this letter after you're done, because if she ever reads it, she's gonna burn me.

Speaking of Azula's mother, I think we're going to go looking for her. I haven't quite sold Azula on the idea yet, and I'd rather no one tell Zuko. Not because I don't want him to know what happened to his mom, but because, one, there's no telling what he'll do with Azula if he comes across her, and two, I don't even know if we can find her and I don't want to stir something up I can't finish.

And if we don't find her, maybe we'll at least find my space sword. Darn thing had to have landed somewhere.

I know you can't write me back, Gran Gran, so I'm not looking for advice, I just wanted someone to know this stuff who could keep it a secret. Maybe I'll visit, soon. I hope we'll be welcome. Tell Pakku, or Gramp Gramp if he's open to that kind of thing yet, that I said hi.

Love,

Sokka.

P.S. I sent a letter to Katara by way of you. Don't know if it got though, but I did get one from her that said she was pretty worried. So, if you get this letter and not the other one, tell Katara I'm fine and that I love her."

The end.

Author's notes:

Well, that's it. I hope the ending didn't disappoint. I know some people wanted a big showdown with Great Cthulhu himself, but I thought a battle with his minions recounted in a letter was more of a Lovecraftian ending. I've always viewed this fic as more of a love story than anything else, so Sokka and Azula living ambiguously ever after seemed like a fine 'ol conclusion to me.

First, everyone thank Lord Annaymoss for volunteering to be a beta reader. Some of these chapters were quite long and he got nothing in return for his proofreading efforts.

Second, thanks to everyone who left a review and double thanks to everyone who left a long review. It's nice to write something that people get invested in.

"Will there be a sequel!?" I imagine you asking.

I'm going to cop out and tell you that I honestly don't know. On the one hand, it could happen. I left it open, there's plenty of material, plenty of things for the characters to settle with each other, etc. On the other hand, I am trying to write an original novel and that sort of thing takes time and creative energy. Also, there's something to be said for knowing when to stop. You don't want to read a crappy third installment, and I'd hate to write one.

But, if I get inspiration and a bit of time, who knows? I can see writing a third installment as a cure for writer's block on the other story.

Anyway, I thought I'd leave you all with some fun facts about this story.

-The Night-Gaunts and ghouls are from H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle stories, which blend with the Cthulhu Mythos. Zan is based of a Lovecraft story titled, "The Music of Erich Zann." He appears fairly bastardized in this story. The star-spawn, too, I took many liberties with. They seem to be a cross between Zerg from Starcraft and Wyrm-spawn, from a table-top role-playing game called Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

-In an early draft, it was Night-Gaunts who harried Azula and Sokka during their travels, but I changed it to star-spawn to clean things up a bit.

-In the very first draft, the catalyst for getting the "gaang" back together was an airship crash at a festival. Think the Hindenburg.

-My first thought for this story was to blend Avatar with Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, and have Azula interact with the rest of the gaang as they went...to the center of the earth for some reason. It was going to have lizard people. I put in a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea nod instead.

-I was going to have Azula die a heroic, maybe ambiguous, death at the end, and while the idea holds a lot of appeal still, I wanted a happy ending for her.

-The story went off the rails in a bad way during the first draft. It was after they escaped Nyarlathotep. Waterbending abortion is all I'll say about it.

-Read The Call of Cthulhu to get the boat joke in the Outer-Maw chapter.

-Outer-Maw is a horrible play on the name Innsmouth, as in "The Shadow over Innsmouth," another Lovecraft classic.

-I thought about having Nekka be evil, but I couldn't think of a reason why.

-Many of the latter chapters were re-written to make Zuko seem like less of a jerk.

-The epilogue is a nod to Lovecraft, as most of his stories were in the first-person and in the form of letters.

-A few people sent me links to songs this fic made them think of. I was listening to Biloxi Parish and The Backseat by the Gaslight Anthem, and Blood Loss by The Horrible Crows (Same band more or less) while writing this. Obviously I'm more of a tone person than a lyrics type of guy when it comes to writing and tunes.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed the story.


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